Have you ever told a lie so many times that even you started to believe it? I have. I lied that I didn’t like ground meat (mince). I’m not really sure how this happened but long story short I actually do like ground meat, a lot. I came to terms with my love of ground meat about a year ago, when I realized I was eating it all the time yet still telling people I didn’t like it *this is an extremely annoying thing to do and I would advise against it. Even on this blog I have recipes with ground meat like my sausage, kale & fennel pasta, healthy turkey chili, classic meatballs and pork & fennel sausage rolls.
This is my go-to meat sauce recipe, I use it in my lasagna, Hayden puts it on toast with a fried egg on top, we’ve made Shepard’s pie with it, we almost always have some pre-made in our freezer. You probably get it by now- if you like bolognese, you’ll like this bolognese (even if you “don’t like ground meat”..).
Makes 8 cups
- 2 lbs (about 1kg) ground beef (mince), I like to use anywhere between 15-20% fat
- 2 lbs (about 1kg) ground pork (mince), I like to use anywhere between 15-20% fat
- 2 carrots, diced
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 6 cloves garlic, peeled and diced
- 1 tbsp fennel seeds
- 1/2 tsp dried chili flakes
- 1 28 oz (800g) can peeled diced tomatoes
- 1 28 oz (200g) can pureed tomatoes (tomato pasasta)
- 3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- Salt to taste
Method
- In a large pot oven medium-high heat, cook your pork and beef in 3 tbsp of olive oil until cooked through and lightly browned. Use the back of a wooden spoon to break the meat into pea sized pieces. Remove meat from the pan and set aside.
- Add your carrots, celery, onion and garlic to the pot. Cook until the vegetables have softened.
- Add in your fennel seeds and chili flakes, cook until fragrant.
- Finally return your cooked meat to the pot along with both cans of tomato, 1/2 cup of olive oil and Worcestershire sauce.
- Let cook for at least 1-2 hours on low heat. Season with salt to taste.
- Serve with al dente pasta or literally anything else.
*I’d also like to add that this is definitely not a classic Italian bolognese, so don’t go serving it to your friends Italian Grandma unless she’s well aware that it is NOT TRADITIONAL, but it is still damn good*
