Grass Fed Beef Summer Bolognese

Grass Fed Beef Summer Bolognese

There are endless meal choices with grass fed beef mince and this one is currently on rotation at our place as it’s a fabulous summer option – a fresh, lighter take on the traditional rich saucy bolognese. It’s also an opportunity to use some of the crazy amounts of tasty cherry tomatoes coming from my vege. patch at the moment. With the lemon stirred through the pasta and the basil on top to serve, this meal really is a fresh, clean option just perfect for this last month of summer.

 

Ingredients

  • 300g spaghetti
  • 1 pack Conscious Farmer grass fed beef mince (750g)
  • Olive oil
  • 3 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 2 tablespoons thyme leaves
  • 1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
  • 2 teaspoons caster sugar
  • 3 tablespoons tomato paste
  • Sea salt and cracked black pepper
  • 2/3 cup white wine
  • 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon rind
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 500g cherry tomatoes, halved.
  • ½ cup Ligurian or Kalamata olives
  • Torn basil leaves and finely grated parmesan for serving.

Method

Place a large saucepan of water on to boil in preparation for cooking the pasta.

Place a flying pan over a high heat. Add a small amount of olive oil, then add the mince, garlic, thyme and chilli and cook until the meat is browned.  Break apart any lumps of mince as you stir the mince around.

Add the pasta to the water to cook.

Reduce the heat to medium, add the caster sugar, tomato paste, salt and pepper and cook for around 5 minutes.  Add the white wine and cook for a further 3 minutes.  Add the halved cherry tomatoes and olives and allow them to warm slightly.  (If it seems just too dry at any point, just add a dash of water to the pan).

Once the pasta has cooked, drain it and place it back in the warm saucepan. Drizzle with olive oil and stir this in with the lemon rind, lemon juice and vinegar.

To serve, place the spaghetti in bowls and top with the mince and tomato mix.  Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and tear the basil leaves and scatter on top.

Serves 4-6

 

I have adapted this recipe from a Donna Hay recipe – Summer Bolognese.

My photo above has the dish served with fettucine style pasta. I think it’s better with spaghetti, but Derek and I had made our own pasta and we don’t have a pasta machine so had cut it by hand. Making spaghetti this way is a little beyond us, so fettucine it was!

Have fun cooking,

Kirrily x