Bolognese sauce

A pot of ragù alla bolognese Bologna's slow meat sauce is the classic Sunday pot: ground meat cooked down with onion, carrot and celery, wine, a little tomato and often milk, over a long, gentle simmer. It mostly looks after itself, so it fits around everything else on this list. One big pot covers far more than pasta night. Toss it with tagliatelle on Monday, spoon it over soft polenta midweek, pile it into a baked potato with grated cheese, or layer it into a quick lasagna. It is meat-heavy and rich, so a little goes a long way, and ladling it into shallow containers rather than chilling the whole pot keeps it within the three-to-four-day window for cooked leftovers.