Bolognese Sauce

Ingredients

• Oil for pan (2 tbsp)
• Veggies
  • 1 large brown onion
  • 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 2 carrots, finely chopped
• Herbs and spices
  • 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/2 tsp dried thyme
  • 2 Bay leaves
• Meat
  • 500g Beef mince (or beef/pork mix)
• Sauces
  • 500ml beef stock (1 stock cube + 500ml water)
  • 500ml Passata (tomato puree, found near the pasta sauces in supermarket)
• Other
  • salt and pepper

Method

1. Heat the oil to a low temperature in a medium to large saucepan or pot
2. Add the onion and cook for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the garlic and carrots. Cook for a further 3 minutes.
4. Increase the cooking temperature
5. Add the mince, oregano, thyme and bay leaves to the pot and cook, stirring frequently until the meat is brown and all broken up
6. Add the beef stock and passata to the pot and stir it all in until mixed. Add salt and pepper if needed
7. Turn the heat down to medium-low (simmer) and cook for about 30 minutes, allowing the sauce to reduce (meaning some of the liquid evaporates)
8. Remove the bay leaves, and serve with pasta

Other suggestions

• To make it even more healthy and nutritious, add 120g of finely chopped mushrooms
• Want to make it spicy? Maybe add some chilli flakes, or a bit of tabasco sauce
• If you want to simplify your heat-and-eat meal for hiking, consider cooking some pasta ahead of time and mixidng it in with the final sauce before packaging
• In a hurry? You can speed up step 7 (reducing the sauce) by making the beef stock with only 250 ml of water