Tomato meat sauce  

Please click for copy

Ingredients:

¼-cup olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves

 500gr lean minced beef

500gr fresh tomatoes or

1-can 470gr plum tomatoes

2-tablespoons flour, to be used as

thickener

½-teaspoon red chili flakes

1-tablespoon tomato paste

1-tablespoon mixed pickling spices

1-litre vegetable stock or tomato

juice  

Sea salt and fresh ground black

pepper  

How to cook pasta  al tende please click here

Preparation method:

Meat sauce

Peel and finely chop onion, peel the garlic and pureed with a little salt.

 In a small saucepan, boil pickling spices for 5-6 minutes.

Strain and keep juice for later use.

Heat oil in a medium saucepan, add onion and sauté until soft, with out browned. Stir minced beef and the crushed garlic.

Continue to fry gently to brown the meat. Scald the tomatoes and peel  the skins.

Deseed and cut tomatoes in half and add into saucepan with the meat, salt, pepper, tomato puree and red chili flakes.

Add pickling spices juice into the meat mixture

Add the vegetable stock or tomato juice and bring to boil.

Lower the heat and simmer gently for 40- 45 minutes

Stir occasionally to prevent the sauce from sticking and add a little extra vegetable stock or tomato juice if necessary.

Thicken sauce if needed with the flour, mixed with little cold water. Sauce should not be very thick. Adjust seasoning and add as required.