Italian Bolognese

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the brown onion, celery and carrot and cook, stirring, for 7-8 minutes or until soft. Add the garlic and cook for a further 1 minute or until fragrant. Add the beef mince and cook, breaking up with a wooden spoon, for 5 minutes or until browned. Add the diced tomatoes and bring to the boil. Stir through the tomato paste, sugar, dried Italian herbs and water. Cover with a lid and simmer over a medium-low heat for 15 minutes. Remove the lid and cook, uncovered, for a further 5 minutes or until the sauce thickens slightly. Stir through half of the parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, bring a pot of salted water to the boil. Add the rigatoni pasta to the boiling water and cook for approximately 10 minutes or until ‘al dente’, stirring regularly to ensure the rigatoni does not stick together. Drain. Stir the drained rigatoni through the bolognese sauce to coat well.