Minced Meat "Pasta" Sauce

image from here

Today we're going Italian, well sort of, a friend of mine assures me that Italians hate vegetables in their bolognese! And by now you know how I feel about carbs, so I can't really call this a pasta sauce... But I do make this quite often and I eat it either by itself with a little cheese on top or over steamed green vegetables (I urge you to try it over a bowl of steamed green cabbage, its delicious, trust me). The addition of milk stops the sauce tasting to "meaty" and enriches the flavour of the tomatoes.


Meat "Pasta" Sauce
500gm mince meat (now that we're back in Australia, I choose Kangaroo mince, but beef still works well)
500gm Vegetables (I use a mixture of diced onion, diced mushrooms, grated carrot, grated zuccini, and baby spinach)
2 garlic cloves crushed
1 can crushed tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 cup milk
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 cup chicken stock
pinch of sugar
salt and pepper to taste


Fry off the onion in a little oil and butter till translucent then add garlic. Add grated vegetables and cook until softened. Add tomato paste and fry off. Add mince meat and season. Fry till browned and cooked through. Add milk and cook off. Add mushrooms, bay leaf, canned tomatoes, sugar, oregano and chicken stock. Bring to boil and then simmer until sauce it has reduced (about 25min). Add baby spinach. Taste and add more salt or pepper if needed. Serve over green veg or on its own with cheese on top.