Lean Beef Bolognese

Ingredients

• Lean beef mince 5%160 g
• Wholewheat pasta (dry)90 g
• Tomato passata200 g
• Onions60 g
• Garlic6 g
• Parmesan15 g
• Extra virgin olive oil7 g

Method

1. 1Soften the onion and garlicSoften onion and garlic slowly in olive oil.
2. 2Brown the beef, then add passataBrown the beef properly before the passata goes in.
3. 3Simmer, toss and finish with parmesanSimmer 25 minutes, toss with pasta and finish with parmesan.

Why this recipe works

Softening the onion and garlic slowly, then browning the beef properly before the passata goes in, is what gives this sauce its depth over a 25-minute simmer. Lean beef keeps the fat sensible while parmesan supplies the savoury finish that lean mince otherwise lacks. It doubles without extra effort and the cost per serving stays low, which makes it the batch-cooking anchor of the week.

Prep, storage & reheating

• Brown the beef in a wide pan and resist stirring it — colour on the meat is where most of the sauce's flavour comes from.
• Hold back a little of the pasta water and loosen the sauce with it before tossing, so it coats the pasta instead of sitting under it.

Cool the sauce promptly in a shallow container and refrigerate it covered, ideally separate from the pasta. Reheat once, in a pan over a moderate heat, stirring until piping hot throughout, and grate the parmesan on fresh afterwards.

Prepping this for the week

Scaling one serving into several days is a planning problem: protein per portion, cost per week and the time you have to cook in one block.

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