Beef and Tomato Ragu
This is one of our favourite family recipes and minced beef is a great source of iron for small children. I make this recipe almost every month and have been doing so since my little girl started eating solids: filling, nutritious, versatile and comforting it never disappoints.
I wrote this recipe to make one large batch that you can cook ahead and freeze extra portions. I hope this is a recipe you will make again and again. It is incredibly useful to have on standby as you can serve with pasta, or rice, use as a layer in a lasagna, or as a base for a cottage pie.
prep time 20 mins - cooking time 1 hours +
ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil, or butter
1 onion, peeled and diced
2 carrots, washed, peeled and diced
1 garlic clove, peeled and whole
500g organic mince beef (5% or 10% fat)
680g tomato passata
200ml water
pasta, to serve
method
Take a large ceramic pot and add butter/ or oil, then the chopped onion and carrot; gently saute until softened for 10 minutes. Add garlic clove whole, cook for 2 minutes, you remove this at the end to cooking. Next add the mince, breaking it up with a spoon or spatula as you stir. You want the mince to colour but not brown, to avoid toughening the meat. Finally, add the tomato passata and water. Bring up to a gentle boil and then lower heat to a simmer for 1.5 – 2.5 hours. Stirring occasionally. The sauce should reduce, thicken and intensify in flavour.