Description
This tomato meat sauce is a beef minced meat cooked low and slow in tomato sauce. It can be cooked in twenty to thirty minutes but to get a rich thick meat sauce 'gravy' you have to give it time. Patience is key to get the same results.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 500 grams beef mince
- 2 tbsps olive oil
- 1 onion (chopped)
- 4-5 garlic cloves (minced)
- 3 bell peppers (snack size or 1 medium regular size, chopped into fine pieces)
- garlic and herb
- 1 tsp salt & black pepper (or 1 tsp salt & 1/4 tsp pepper)
- 2 cans chopped tomato
- 3 tbsps tomato paste
- 1 cup passata
- 1/2 cup red wine
- fresh flat Italian parsley or basil for garnish
- 2 tbsps fresh parsley chopped
- 1 tsp pasta spice
- parmesan cheese (freshly grated)
Instructions
- Start here: Heat the oil in a large skillet/pan.
- Brown the meat: Cook the ground beef until no loger pink (more brown than pink). Move it to one side of the pan and add the onion and cook till soft. Add the garlic, snack bell peppers and cook for about 3 to 4 minutes.
- Season:. Add the salt and pepper, garlic & herb seasoning, tomato paste and wine. Cook for 5 minutes.
- Tomato & water: Add the chopped tomato and add water into the can or bowl that the tomato was in, give it a swirl and toss it into the meat sauce. The water will be roughly 1/2 cup of water.
- Cook the sauce: Taste for seasoning, add if needed, cover the pan or pot and cook for two to two and half hours on low heat. In between the cooking time, roughly half way through after it's been slow cooking, add the passata and red wine. Continue cooking: Keep stirring the sauce occasionally and if the simmer is too low then increase to low to medium heat but not high, the sauce should be on a low simmer. If you find the sauce is too thick while occasionally stirring, add a little water to thin it out and leave it to continue simmering to a thick sauce.
- Serve: When your preferred tomato meat sauce thickness is reached, remove from the heat and serve with pasta or properly cool to refrigerate.
- Garnish and serve: Serve over pasta with a sprinkle of pasta spice, parsley, Parmesan cheese and a drizzle of extra virgin oil.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 2 hours
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Calories: 132
- Sugar: 2
- Sodium: 92
- Fat: 8
- Saturated Fat: 3
- Carbohydrates: 4
- Fiber: 1
- Protein: 7
- Cholesterol: 27