I’ve come to a theory recently about cooking. If your mother is a fabulous cook, you either 1. learn all her secrets and turn out to be an equally fabulous cook or 2. you avoid the kitchen at all costs – your mom’s a fabulous cook you will never compare.

I wouldn’t say I fall into the second camp, but I will say it took me a bit longer to blossom into a cook myself because mom’s food was so good, why would I want to make something for myself?

Now that I’m on my own, I cook with reckless abandon. But I do find myself a little hesitant when it comes to the traditional family recipes.

My mom makes the best meatballs and gravy.

I’ve been trying to replicate hers, but haven’t been able to get the texture quite right. Something’s different. I don’t know, maybe it’s the pot.

So instead of recreating her meatballs, I decided I’d go my own way and come up with a meat sauce recipe or bolognese.

I don’t remember, growing up, mom ever making something like this, so I am relieved of the fear of my dish not standing up to hers.

You will need

• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 2 stalk of celery, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, diced
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 28oz can tomato puree
• olive oil
• salt
• pepper

Drizzle a heavy bottomed pan with olive oil and toss in the carrot, celery and onion.

Let the veggies cook over medium heat for about 10-15 minutes. You want them to soften and for the onions to turn translucent. When this happens, add in the garlic and let cook for anothe rten minutes or so.

Add the ground beef to the pot, breaking it up with a wooden spoon and incorporating the veggies into the meat.

Let the meat thoroughly brown. This should take maybe another ten minutes. Be sure to stir so the meat browns on all sides. Season with salt and lots of black pepper.

Pour in a can of tomato puree. Give a big stir and add more black pepper. Let this bubble for about 15 minutes. You can let it go for longer if you want to make this in the morning and serve for dinner later.

When you’re ready to serve, boil up a pot of water and cook a good sturdy pasta. I used rigatoni. You can use fettucini or penne or any other pasta with a bit of heft. This is not the dish for angel hair.

Top the pasta with the meat sauce

And of course it wouldn’t be a pasta dinner without a sprinkle of parmesan.