He’s the first man to proudly defend a bolognese sauce skin at the Dish table… This week Nick and Angela are joined by comedian, actor, and podcaster, Joe Wilkinson!

Joe is known for his deadpan humour and comedic roles in shows such as After Life, Him & Her, Taskmaster, and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. This year, he’s switching things around as he stars as the romantic lead, alongside Keira Knightley, in the Waitrose Christmas advert. Joe also hosts his own podcast, Chatabix, alongside long-time collaborator David Earl.

Joe’s dream meal? His own bolognese! Which means Angela has her work cut out for her as she serves up her version of the ultimate comfort classic. The meal is paired with a glass of Villa Antinori for Nick and Angela and a Zeno Alcohol-Liberated Red for Joe, following a non-alcoholic Italian Spritz to start.

Beyond the bolognese, Joe opens up about his newfound love of carrot cake, his deep distrust of raisins (especially when disguised in a flapjack), and his surprisingly sweet approach to on-screen kisses, even when they involve Keira Knightley.

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A transcript for this episode can be found at https://www.waitrose.com/dish

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We can’t all have a Michelin star chef in the kitchen, but you can ask Angela for help. Send your dilemmas to dish@waitrose.co.uk and she’ll try to answer in a future episode.

Dish is a Cold Glass Production for Waitrose

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So today on dish I’m going to cook the best bolognese by Martha Collinsson for Joe Wilkinson. This is the best bolognese I’ve ever read. It’s Martha’s recipe but I’ve slightly tweaked it a little bit to follow some of the ways my grandmother would make it. So we’ve started in here safrito. So sfrito is carrot celery and onion and it forms the base of so many things in Italian cookery. And that’s been cooking for a good 10 minutes now. And the secret is with the bolognese is the layers. And take your time. I don’t necessarily always put mushrooms in my bolognese, but Martha does. She uses fresh, but I’m going to use some of the dried porchini. Before that though, I’m going to add some panchetta. And now I’m just going to chop up these dried porchini. You need to soak them because they are dry, so they need to rehydrate. I sort of prefer the dries cuz I just think they have a more concentrated flavor. And then we’re going to dice up some rump steak. So in Martha’s recipe, and a lot of recipes, they usually just beef, but I like beef and pork. The mushrooms are going in now. So, we’re going to start to put our meat in now. A little bit of pepper and a little bit of salt. We’re just going to get a nice sear on that meat. So, we’re going to crumble in our stock cube here. Then, I’m going to add a dessert spoon of tomato puree. Key is though when you add tomato puree. Make sure you cook it out. So, give it a good stir. We’re going to add a little bit of wine just to delaze. It’s not so much glass. A little glass. It’s looking so good already. Then our rosemary in there, our bay leaf. At this stage as well, Martha adds some milk. And that sort of takes away the acidity a bit of the tomatoes. It sort of helps tenderize the meat. And then we’re just going to top it up with some water, just enough to cover it. And then put it onto a long simmer for a good couple of hours until the liquid’s really reduced down. You got this lovely thick, anxious sauce that will coat the pasta perfectly. That’s lovely. [Music]

46 Comments

  1. A bit of tomatoe passata would be nice I like a tomatoe Bolognese rather than a Shepard's pie mix 😂

  2. For those who watch Bake Off, Martha Collison was the 17yo from series 5 who got through to the quarter finals. Incredibly talented and was Graham Norton’s radio show’s resident chef/baker.

    Pretty cool to see a Michelin star chef using her recipe

  3. Just salt and pepper and a sprig of fresh Rosemary that's going to get boiled away from that long simmer ? Must taste bland af.

  4. Instead of topping it up with water as the last step, you should have put in that brown mushroom water the mushrooms had been soaking in.

  5. I used this base recipe for a mashup between your bolognaise and Nigella’s tortilla lasagna as I had some Mollica durum wheat wraps in the cupboard. I didn’t have mushrooms but used smoked back bacon, added a teaspoon of German mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Absolutely stunning.

  6. the minute she said pork and beef, i knew angela's a real one because that's exactly the advice my grandmum gave for dumplings. it just tastes better.

  7. milk, water into "seared dish" : best bolognese !! when American have low standards , maybe the best !! Please research Italian cuisine beforehand

  8. This Is Not a real "Ragù Bolognese", not even by mistake: this recipe is just the "idea" of what tourists have in mind about Ragù alla Bolognese… 1, Never put mushrooms in Bolognese, it is the equivalent of putting chocolate in a classic "English breakfast", it has absolutely nothing to do with it… 2, for those who want to add it, the milk is only added shortly before the end of cooking, and never before the vegetable broth or water which will help in the very slow cooking of the meat, and in any case only add half a glass, no more. 3, Ragù Bolognese does not require any aromatic herbs: no rosemary, no bay leaves, thyme, or any other stuff you want to invent. 4, Ragù is eaten with egg pasta, tagliatelle, pappardelle… No one in history has ever used spaghetti to make Bolognese in Italy, since it is the worst choice ever, they will not be able to mix well with the sauce (and those shown in the video are also more than overcooked…) 5, – 2 hours seems like a long cooking time, but not for a real Ragù; For the Ragù Bolognese you need at least 3 hours, but in reality it can also be cooked for 4/6 hours if necessary, the longer it cooks the better and tastier it will be