Ingredients:
- 2 large or 3 medium onions
- 2 - 3 cloves garlic
- 2 zucchini
- 2 carrots
- 300g mushrooms (any type)
- 3 - 4 anchovies in oil
- 500g beef mince
- 500g pork mince
- 750ml passata
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp sweet smoked paprika
- 2 tsp vegetable stock, vegetable stock powder or cube
- olive oil
- Chop onions roughly
- Squish garlic in garlic squisher
- Grate zucchini, carrot and mushrooms (a food processor is helpful here)
- Heat oil in a large frying pan or stovetop-safe casserole dish
- Brown meat in batches, remove to a separate plate or bowl
- Add a little more oil to pan and lower heat
- Cook onion over medium heat until translucent
- Add garlic and cook approx 1 minute
- Add spices and cook for 10 - 20 seconds
- Add anchovies and cook for approx 1 minute, breaking down with your spoon / spatula thingy
- Deglaze pan with a bit of passata if necessary
- Add grated vegetables to pan and cook down for a couple of minutes
- Add browned meat to pan and mix in
- Add vegetable stock gloop, powder or crumbled cube (do not dilute in water, this adds too much liquid)
- Add passata to pan and stir in, bring to boil
- Add pepper as required
- Cook, uncovered, for 1 - 2 hours over slow heat, just bubbling
- Makes approx 2.4 kg, approx 12 servings
- This always tastes better the next day.
- The anchovies and the vegetable stock help add the middle notes to this sauce, which I found so hard to do when I first started cooking it. Red wine can also help with this, should you have any around, but it does add a lot of liquid. I like a dryish sauce, particularly for freezing as it tends to weep and separate when you defrost it, otherwise.
- Grating the vegetables not only deepens the flavour, it hides them from those children (and grown-ups) who have an aversion to visible vegetable matter, and improves the texture after defrosting.
This weekend's version had *lots* of swiss brown mushrooms, because I happened to have a lot around. It's resulted in a lovely dark colour and deep flavour.