Pasta Bolognese
There are many different ways to make a Bolognese sauce, some recipes add wine, others include chopped bacon and fresh herbs to add more flavour. This recipe is a little bit more basic to make it more affordable for midweek meals on a limited budget. It is still full of wonderful Italian flavour.
We’ve used a 500g pack of minced beef which should make enough for two meals depending on your portion size, between one and two extra portions of the sauce to pop into the freezer for later.
This recipe is part of our budget meal plan for one.
Ingredients
Method
- 1 Large onion finely diced
- 1 Teaspoon crushed garlic
- 500g Rocket Angus beef mince
- Salt & black pepper
- 1 x 400g Can of chopped tomatoes in juice
- ¼ Cup of water
- 1 Beef stock cube
- 1 Tablespoon of tomato puree
- Pinch of dried oregano
- Pinch of dried basil
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 125g Balducci Penne Rigati Pasta
- Place a Tablespoon of olive oil in a large frying pan and add the onion and garlic. Cook over a medium heat until softened. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- Add another Tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and increase the temperature to high. Add the mince and cook quickly until beginning to brown.
- Return the onion and garlic to the pan, season with salt and ground black pepper.
- Add the tomatoes and water and cook until bubbling, then add the stock cube, tomato puree and dried herbs. Stir through. Place a lid on the pan, turn the heat down to medium and simmer for 20 minutes.
- Remove the lid and simmer for an additional 10 minutes until the sauce has thickened.
- In the meantime, heat a pan of salted water until it is boiling. Place 250g of pasta in the pan and cook according to the packet instructions. Drain thoroughly and return to the pan. Add 1/2 of the Bolognese sauce to the pasta and combine.
- Serve one portion and refrigerate one portion for another evening. Divide the remaining sauce into 2 airtight containers. Label and place in the freezer.
Suggestions
If you have any left-over capsicum, fresh tomatoes or bacon you can dice and add these to your sauce.
If you have left-over pesto this can also be added to boost the basil flavour more.
Parmesan cheese is delicious finely grated over pasta Bolognese. If you have some in the refrigerator go ahead and treat yourself.