Budget Bolognese

Ingredients

• 750 g beef mince

• 400 g canned tomatoes

• 375 ml passata

• 3 cloves garlic

• 1 onion

• 1 carrot

• 1 zucchini

• 150 g bacon

• 1 tsp sugar

• 1 tsp salt

• 125 ml red wine

• 1 tbs balsamic vinaigrette

• 2 tbs parsley

Method

• 1 Preheat the oven to 180˚C

• 2 Use a food processor or mini whizz to finely chop/blitz the carrot, zucchini, onion, bacon and garlic.

• 3 Heat some olive oil in an oven-proof pot (you'll need one with a lid). Add the the bacon, onion, garlic and veggies and fry off until soft and fragrant. Add the mince and use a wooden spoon to break it up. Brown the mince.

• 4 Add the red wine and cook it off until it evaporates.

• 5 Now add the tinned tomatoes and passata. Bring to a boil, turn off the stove top and put the lid on the pot.

• 6 Place the pot, covered, in the oven for one hour. Check it after 30 minutes and if it's a bit dry, add some stock to loosen it a little.

• 7 After an hour, put the pot back on the stove top on a low heat. Take the lid off and add, the sugar, salt and balsamic. Simmer for another 10 or 15 minutes.

• 8 Stir in the chopped parsley and serve with your choice of pasta.