Beef and Tomato Ragu
This is one of our favourite family recipes and minced beef is a great source of iron for small children. I make this recipe almost every month and have been doing so since my little girl started eating solids: filling, nutritious, versatile and comforting it never disappoints.
I wrote this recipe to make one large batch that you can cook ahead and freeze extra portions. I hope this is a recipe you will make again and again. As it is incredibly useful to have on standby: you can serve with pasta, or rice, use as a layer in a lasagna, or as a base for a cottage pie (just top with mash).
prep time 20 mins - cooking time 1 hours +
ingredients ~
2 tablespoons olive oil, or butter
1 onion, peeled and diced
2 carrots, washed, peeled and diced
1 garlic clove, peeled and whole
500g lean mince beef (I use mince with 5% or 10% fat, organic and ideally grass fed beef - buy the best quality you can get)
680g tomato passata, (a standard bottle is 680g - 690g)
200ml water
pasta*, to serve
To make the ragu ~
Take a large ceramic pot and add butter/ or oil, then the chopped onion and carrot; gently saute until softened for 10 minutes. Add garlic clove whole, cook for 2 minutes, you remove this at the end to cooking. Next add the mince, breaking it up with a spoon or spatula as you stir. You want the mince to colour but not brown, to avoid toughening the meat. Finally, add the tomato passata and water. Bring up to a gentle boil and then lower heat to a simmer for 1.5 – 2.5 hours. Stirring occasionally. The sauce should reduce, thicken and intensify in flavour.
From 12 months onwards this minced ragu should be a good texture for your little one (before then you can blitz until you have a smooth sauce).