Hairy dieters rich and meaty bolognaise

I made this meal last night from my favourite Hairy Dieters cookbook as a tribute to Dave Myers who lost his battle with cancer this week. Very sad news indeed, they were a very entertaining duo in their cookery shows and being from my part of the country they often filmed their shows in places that were local and familiar to me .

 

A spaghetti bolognaise doesn’t really need any introduction, it’s a dish that most people have their favourite version of .  This version uses a celery stick and a courgette, but as I didn’t have these last night I used grated carrots instead. I’m assuming adding all the vegetables and less meat makes it a healthier and less calorific dish but the rest of the ingredients are basically the same as a standard recipe and  certainly still as tasty . 

Ingredients

400g lean minced beef

2 medium onions, chopped

3 garlic cloves , finely chopped

1 celery stick, finely chopped 

1 medium courgette, diced 

175g small chestnut mushrooms

150ml red wine or extra stock

400g tin of chopped tomatoes 

2 tbsp of tomato purée

500ml of beef stock

1 heaped tsp dried oregano 

1 tsp dried chilli flakes 

Flakes of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 

 Method 

Heat the oil in a flameproof casserole dish. Add the mince, chopped onions, courgette, celery, garlic, and mushrooms and fry until lightly coloured for about 10 minutes Break the meat up with a wooden spoon as it cooks.

Add the tin of chopped tomatoes, tomato purée, beef stock, oregano, chilli flakes, salt, freshly ground black pepper and red wine if using . Bring the mixture up to the boil and then turn down the heat and simmer with a loosely covered lid for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

After 30 minutes, remove the lid and simmer for another 25 minutes. In which time the sauce will become thicker so remember to keep stirring, especially at the end of the cooking time. Serve with your favourite pasta and sprinkling of Parmesan cheese if you don’t mind the extra calories .