Description: Full of flavour. It’s homemade and tastes amazing. Simmer, simmer, simmer … and tada!
Serves: 4
Cooking time: 60 minutes

Ingredients 

• Beef mince (5%) – 400g
• Onion – chopped in small pieces, large 2 pieces or 300g
• Carrot – chopped in small pieces, medium 2 pieces or 200g
• Garlic – chopped in small pieces, 4 cloves
• Tomato tin – 2 tins
• Red wine (dry) – 300ml
• Pappardelle – 280g
• Salt – 2/3 teaspoon (You may use less salt according your preference)
• Ground black pepper – 1/2 teaspoon
• Olive oil – 2 tablespoons
• Grated parmesan cheese – 40g

Method

1. Heat the extra virgin olive oil (1 tablespoon) in a large non-stick frying pan, then add the garlic, onion, carrot over low heat, stirring regularly until all ingredients get soft. Put them aside.
2. Change the heat to medium, add the minced meat and cook.
3. When the meat is almost cooked, add the vegetables from no.1 and the wine to the pan then cook until the ingredients absorb the wine.
4. Add the tomato tins, salt and ground black pepper, then simmer for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.
5. When the Bolognese sauce is almost ready, cook the pasta until al dente in plenty of boiling water with salt. Once the pasta is cooked, mix it with the sauce.

To serve: Sprinkle black pepper and parmesan cheese on top. 

Nutritional values per serving

Kcal	Protein	Fat	Carbs	Fibre	Sugars	Salt	Saturated Fat	Zinc	Iron	Phosphorus
657.5	38.1g	17.7g	69.7g	9.1g	12.4g	1.6g	5.2g	6.0mg	6.6mg	362.9μg
32.9%	76.3%	25.3%	26.8%	30.4%	13.8%	27.1%	26.0%	85.7%	44.5%	66.0%

Nutritional Tips

This recipe is suitable for those who do not like carrots or onions as the meat sauce dominates the taste of vegetables so it would be helpful to eat them, especially children. Alternatively, you can use chicken or pork minced meat. No need to use sugar as the onions can make the sauce sweet enough. You may also consider adding more onions or carrots if you like a sweeter sauce. Plants/vegetables contain different types of natural sugar and when these polysaccharides are broken down into smaller molecules by cooking, not only do they become sweeter but also softer. You can also freeze the sauce and use it when you do not feel like cooking.

Meat is a good source of protein, vitamins and minerals. For example, meat is a good source of iron zinc, magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium and their bioavailability is better than the ones from cereals. Meat has a short shelf life, therefore it is important to keep it at low temperatures and cook it properly to avoid microbial issues (e.g. chicken and pork must be well-cooked).