by Sylvia Savage

Created on: July 16, 2008

Also commonly known as "Spag-Bol" in my family as it is a regular homemade evening meal!

This dish is not only fun to make and hassle free it is also a very well rounded meal, so excellent for the family! Containing your carbohydrates in the pasta, your protein in the meat, vegetables with the carrots and all that superfood goodness in the tomatoes that all the nutritionists are currently raving about!

Ingredients:
200g Minced beef (i find beef is a lot yummier in this dish)
1 small glass of Red Wine
Quarter of a bottle of plain Tomato Passata (this sauce is thicker than the tinned & chopped variety, and gives a smoother texture)
1 tin of Chopped Plum Tomatoes (still very nice to have small chunks of tomato!)
1 medium Onion chopped finely
2 Cloves of Garlic mashed
2 Carrots peeled, chopped and diced (Courgettes are also a yummy veg if preferred)
1 Chicken stock cube
Tomato Puree
1 bunch of fresh Flat Leaf Parsley
Splash of olive oil

-I also find that using a Wok is much easier, as there is less splash and more room for sauce!
-Alternatively to 2 types of tomato sauces.. use half of the Passata and chop up some cherry tomatoes, adding to the dish at the same time as the Passata.

Method:

1)Start with frying the onions, garlic and carrots in the splash of olive oil and simmer until the onions are soft. Don't worry if the carrots are still slightly hard, they will soften as the recipe cooks.

2)Add the minced meat to the wok and break up with a wooden spoon. Continue to break up and move the meat around until it has turned brown (grey!)and is no longer in large chunks. It should also have released its own juices.

3)Now add the small glass of red wine, make sure all the meat is coated in it and leave to simmer for a few minutes to let the meat soak it up and also burn the alcohol out.

4)Using your kettle boil a small amount of water, 50ml, and dissolve the chicken stock cube in it. Once dissolved poor over the mince and leave for a further 2 minutes to simmer.

5)Poor the quarter of Passata sauce over the meat and stir in. Followed by the tin of chopped tomatoes. Now is also a good time to squeeze the tomato puree over the dish. I tend to squeeze a full circle around the wok to begin with, but maybe add a bit later, depending on how think you want the sauce...too much tomato puree is never enough in my eyes!

6)Chop up a small handful of parsley and sprinkle over and then stir in. Put some parsley aside for the end.

7)Now let these ingredients simmer and soak for approximately 20 mins to half an hour. The longer you leave to simmer the softer and less chewy the meat... therefore, if you like your meat with a bit more bite, simmer for less time.

8)While simmering leave the last 9 or 10 minutes for the spaghetti.
For the pasta, spaghetti is always a yummy choice, but for a bit more sparkle on a romantic evening, or even just a change from spaghetti, Fresh Tagliatelle is a delicious alternative.

~ serve with a sprinkling of parsley on top ~

And Enjoy....

Don't worry if there are left overs.. let it cool in a "snap and lock" box and then put it in the frigde and have a yummy lunch at work the next day!

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