More veg, less meat summer Bolognese

More veg, less meat summer Bolognese

By Good Food
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(5 ratings)
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Prep: 15 mins Cook: 40 mins

Easy

Serves 4

Hide peas and courgettes in this Italian favourite to up your vegetable intake - great for kids when served with pasta

Nutrition and extra info

  • Freezable
  • Healthy

Nutrition: per serving

  • kcal474
  • fat16g
  • saturates4g
  • carbs58g
  • sugars14g
  • fibre8g
  • protein25g
  • salt0.3g
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Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
    olive oil

    Olive oil

    ol-iv oyl

    Probably the most widely-used oil in cooking, olive oil is pressed from fresh olives. It's…

  • 2 onions, finely chopped
    Onion

    Onion

    un-yun

    Onions are endlessly versatile and an essential ingredient in countless recipes. Native to Asia…

  • 3 carrots, finely chopped
    Carrot

    Carrot

    ka-rot

    The carrot, with its distinctive bright orange colour, is one of the most versatile root…

  • 4 celery sticks, finely chopped
    Celery

    Celery

    sell-er-ee

    A collection of long, thick, juicy stalks around a central, tender heart, celery ranges in…

  • 2 courgettes, cut into small cubes
    Courgette

    Courgette

    corr-zjet

    The courgette is a variety of cucurbit, which means it's from the same family as cucumber,…

  • 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 250g pack beef mince
  • 1 heaped tbsp tomato purée
  • 400g can chopped tomato
  • 400g fettuccine
  • 200g pea, frozen or fresh
    Peas

    Peas

    p-ees

    A type of legume, peas grow inside long, plump pods. As is the case with all types of legume,…

  • handful parsley, roughly chopped
    Parsley

    Parsley

    par-slee

    One of the most ubiquitous herbs in British cookery, parsley is also popular in European and…

Method

  1. Heat the oil in large deep frying pan. Add the onions, carrots, celery, courgettes and garlic. Cook for about 10 mins or until soft, adding a few splashes of water if the mixture begins to stick. Turn up the heat and add the mince. Fry for a few mins more, breaking up the mince with the back of a spoon. Stir in tomato purée, pour over the chopped tomatoes and add a can of water. Simmer for 15 mins until the sauce is thick, then season.

  2. Meanwhile, cook the fettuccine following pack instructions.

  3. Tip the peas into the sauce and simmer for 2 mins more until tender. Stir through the drained pasta and parsley, then serve.

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Comments, questions and tips

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rozziedozzie
2nd Feb, 2015
4.05
Added a chicken stock cube, oregano and spinach and it was very tasty. Thanks
babybex
16th Mar, 2014
5.05
Really tasty the girls love it.
mariowynjones
3rd Apr, 2013
2.05
The additional veg is a good idea, however a good ragu needs long simmering to really tenderise the meat and create a thick rich sauc, so the suggested 15 mins is nowhere long enough. I cook mine for about 3 hours.
catie74
16th Aug, 2015
I agree, my ragu also cooks for hours. The taste difference is well worth it. I've always added loads of veg to it too and all the above feature except the peas, which I just don't think go here. I do use broccoli stalk though instead, and red wine
marywilliams
23rd Aug, 2012
This looks good, and I haven't tried it yet, and shall do, but I'll have to be cunning to bluff my granddaughter. I have always sneaked in carrots and celery, but this looks most interesting. Nice with a good egg fettucine, and any left-over meat sauce would make a good cottage pie anyway.
kelh76
9th Aug, 2012
I haven't tried this recipe, but I make spag bol like this all the time - adding courgettes, red pepper and mushrooms as a minimum to tip the veg/meat ratio in the right direction. Not forgetting some dried herbs and maybe a glug of red wine to zjuz it up.
cooktocook
5th Mar, 2014
Cooktocook I cooked the more veg less meat last night. Family feed back was okay, two are big on vegetables in meals it just seemed to lack a lot of flavour. Even so I'll cook again. 3 out of five for this one.
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