Beef Bolognese

Beef Bolognese, another classic dish popular amongst my boys. Good news for the parents - this dish packs a lot of vegetables without the children knowing! It is often a challenge to get my boys to eat a few more pieces of carrots or celery, but they certainly have no problem cleaning a huge portion of Beef Bolognese.



Ingredients:
- 3 stalks of celery, blended
- 1 carrot, blended
- 1 onion, blended
- 2 tomatoes, diced 
- 300g minced beef 
- 1 can of tomato paste 
- 1 pack of spaghetti
- 1 tablespoon of mixed Italian herbs 
- 1 beef cube
- 2 tablespoons of sugar 
- black pepper
- parmesan cheese 

Procedures:
1) Boil spaghetti in a pot of hot water.
2) Meanwhile, prepare the sauce. Stir fry onions, celery, tomatoes and carrot until soft. 
3) Add minced beef and fry until brown. 
4) Add tomato paste, mixed Italian herbs, beef cube, pepper and 2 tablespoon of sugar. Add some pasta water if the sauce is too thick. Allow the sauce to simmer for 5 mins. 
5) Add cooked spaghetti into the sauce and mix. 
6) Serve on a plate with parmesan cheese. 

Canned tomato puree, canned crushed tomatoes, canned tomato paste, which is best for tomato-base pasta? It really depends on whether you prefer your tomato-base sauce thick or watery. I like my thick and rich, so I prefer to use tomato paste, together with some fresh tomatoes. Combining tomato paste with canned crushed tomatoes will also give a good balance in thickness and richness too. Skipping the tomato paste will result in a more watery consistency. Feel free to experiment and find your preferred consistency. 

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