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Beef & Pork Mince Pasta Sauce

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Now this is a favourite of mine.... Super tasty, perfect for any pasta dish you desire. Try my beef & pork pasta bake which is truly sublime. Combining the beef mince with pork ensures that everything stays succulently juicy, beef can become a little dry, especially if you use extra lean / reduced fat beef mince. Most importantly, the two together add a different level of flavour that is not achievable from either of the meats alone. As an added bonus the pork mince reduces the cost of the overall meal too!

Feel free to use just beef or pork alone though, you will still have a fantastic dish to serve up.

Click the Method tab below to see a step by step guide with pictures.

sausage and pepper pie

ingredients

Here's what you need :¬)

serves 4 - 6

  • 3 medium onions sliced
  • 3 carrots grated
  • 3 celery stalks finely chopped
  • 5 cloves of garlic finely chopped
  • 450g beef and pork mince, combined weight
  • 8 chestnut mushrooms thickly sliced
  • 2 Tbls tomato puree
  • 1 400g tin plum tomatoes Pulped in a blender or mashed with a potato masher
  • 2 tsp italian mixed herbs
  • 1 tsp oragano
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 bunch of fresh marjoram
  • 1 OXO™ beef stock cube crumbled
  • 1 OXO™ vegetable stock cube crumbled
  • 1 Tbls Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper roughly ground
  • 400ml water

method

To make this dish you'll need to fry your meat in small batches to ensure that the pan stays hot throughout the browning process. If you try to do too much at once you'll find that the temperature of the pan drops and you will boil the meat as the water comes out too quickly to evaporate.

Note: If you are going to use this pasta sauce for for a pasta dish such as spaghetti, add 1 tsp corn flour slaked into 125ml of milk. This will thicken the sauce and also take the edge off the sharpness. The sauce as made here is quite tart, which is perfect when accompanied with a cheese sauce in dishes such as lasagne or bakes

  1. Prep the main ingredients
main ingredients
beef pasta ingredients
  1. Heat a large wok med-hot ( or wide bottomed pan )

As soon as the pan's hot add a 3rd of the mince broken into strips with your fingers

Tip - fry your mince in 3 small batches. If you put it all in at once the temperature of the pan will drop and it will boil!

  1. Wash your hands each time, do each third pushing the cooked to the side
  2. Once the mince is all browned, set aside onto a covered plate
browning the meat
meat browning

Tip - The vegetables need softening not browning as such so turn heat to med-hot

  1. Add your onions for 5 mins
  2. Add your carrots for 5 mins
  3. Add your celery and garlic for 5 mins
  4. Add salt and pepper and dried herbs
  5. Reduce the vegetables by 2 / 3rds
  6. Push everything to the side of the pan
  7. Add your mince & any juices that have seeped out
  8. Stir fry until all are combined, about 10mins
meat & veg combined
meat veg in pan
  1. Push everything aside again
  2. Add your mushrooms, stir fry for 5 minutes
  3. Combine all the ingredients in the pan
  4. Add your tomatoe pulp & tomato puree
  5. Add stock cubes & Worcestershire sauce
  6. Add water and cover with a well fitting lid
  7. Bring to a rapid simmer
  8. Turn down to low-med for 15 minutes
  9. Remove the lid, turn to med heat, allow sauce to reduce
reduce the sauce
pasta sauce
  1. lastly sprinkle in your marjoram
sprinkle with marjoram
pasta sauce marjoram

If serving in a dish without a cheese sauce, make sure to do this last step*

  1. *Thicken with cornflour & 125ml milk

Top top tip - Your not going to like this idea as your kitchen smells amazing and you just want too eat, but until you,ve tried it you will never believe me. Allow the dish to cool completely set it in the fridge over night and reheat the next day or even two days later and the taste will have matured and be even better!

pasta sauce marjoram
fusilli pasta sauce & cheese
pasta sauce marjoram
spaghetti pasta sauce & cheese

Note: Make sure to tip your cooked pasta into the sauce and mix well before serving. This ensures that every morsel of pasta is coated with the awesome flavours you have created in the sauce ;¬P