I use a variaton of this recipe depending on what we do and don't have in. Sometimes I use more meat if I want it a bit meatier and just increase the amount of passata but keep everything else roughly the same.
8 tbsp extra virgin olive oil or oil from sundried tomatoes
6 tbsp butter
2 onions finely chopped
2 tablespoons honey
2 carrots finely chopped or grated
3 red peppers finely chopped and deseeded
3 cups of chopped butternut squash
4 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp of worcs sauce
500ml dry white wine
250g smoked back bacon or pancetta chopped (or a mix of the 2 is nice)
250g minced beef
250g minced pork
150ml milk
150ml cream
2 tablespoons cream cheese (philadelphia/mascapone/ricotta)
750ml passatta or 2 tins of plum tomatoes blended and sieved (the seeds make it bitter if you don't sieve)
4 teaspoons marigold swiss bouillon powder
12-14 cherry vine tomatoes or sundried tomatoes cut in half
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tablespoon good quality marmalade
2 squares of dark chocolate
1 teaspoon each of rosemary, oregano, parsley, basil, thyme, nutmeg, cinnamon and ground ginger. Use fresh herbs - dried herbs make it bitter
6 cloves garlic crushed
1/2 tsp coarse ground black pepper
parmesan
extra mature cheddar
Sweat onion for 10 mins in olive oil, butter and half the balsamic vinegar. Add the honey during the last 2 minutes and cook over a high heat, stirring, until dark brown. Remove onions from the pan and set aside. In that pan sweat the carrots, peppers, butternut squash, soy sauce and worcs sauce for 10 mins, until golden. In a different pan pour in a good slug of wine to deglaze the pan. Add bacon or pancetta and fry for a couple of mins to release the fat. Add mince and cream cheese. Somehow the wine seems to prevent the mince from clumping. Mix milk and cream together and add spoon by spoon whilst stirring, fry until grey, not brown. Keep stirring with a fork to avoid the mince clumping together. Simmer until liquid has almost completely reduced. Add rest of wine and simmer until almost completely reduced. Add marigold swiss bouillon powder, balsamic vinegar, passata or blended toms, vine toms, onions, veg from the other pan, herbs, nutmeg, ginger, brown sugar, marmalade and chocolate. Stir and simmer for 15 mins. Add garlic. Stir and simmer for at least another 15 mins. If you have time simmer for another 4-5 hours. Towards the end turn the heat up and cook it to the point where it is almost (almost!) burning to give it a lovely caramelised, roasted sauce. Season with black pepper, add knob of butter and cheese.