Another of my batch cooking favourites! I make this once a month or so – slightly less these days as we are eating less meat. This way I make sure Bill does eat vegetables and the meat does go a long way. The same recipe works well if you use a soya-based meat substitute.
Ingredients
- 750 grams of 5% fat minced beef
- 3 rashers of lean bacon, roughly chopped
- 2 large onions
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 3 celery sticks
- 2 courgettes
- 1 pepper
- 200 grams of mushrooms
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Dried mixed herbs if all fresh ones have finished
- Anchovy paste, or three anchovy fillets
- 2 Oxo cubes, or similar beef extract
- Olive oil
Method
- Slice and chop the onions
- Chop all the remaining vegetables. Boil a kettle for the stock cubes.
- Add the olive oil to a pan (or spray with Frylite), add the vegetables and stir well, making sure they do not catch. Keep this up until they have softened slightly.
- Add the chopped bacon and herbs.
- Add the minced beef, breaking it up well and mixing really thoroughly.
- Add the anchovy fillets or a teaspoon of Anchovy paste
- Add the stock cubes and a litre of hot water mixing well.
- On a medium heat, leave the mixture to bubble stirring occasionally.
- Taste for seasoning and allow to simmer until thick.
- At this stage you can divide the mixture and freeze it or embellish and make into supper dishes. I divide the mixture into a number of bowls and make some of the following:
- Add my rustic potato topping for cottage pie
- Add a tin of chopped tomatoes, a tin of chilli beans and chilli powder for a chilli supper served with either Nachos and sour cream or plain rice
- Add tomato paste and chopped olives for a pasta dish
- Add tinned tomatoes and fresh basil for a lasagne
- Any left, gets a smidge of curry powder and stuffs a jacket potato