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English Bolognese Sauce
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A family standard, Serves 4
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500 Gram DEXTER Beef mince
1 large Onions
Large slurp Olive oil
5 Garlic cloves
150 mL cheap red wine
2 Slurps Worcestershire sauce
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Handful fresh Basil, chopped roughly
Handful dried mixed herbs
350 Gram tinned chopped Tomatoes
2 Slurps Tomato ketchup
Pinch or two Salt
Pinch or 4 black Pepper
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Fry the onion and garlic in the oil gently until translucent. Add the beef
and cook until grainy, brown and 'separate'. Add the rest of the ingredients
and bring to the boil to cook it off and reduce slightly.
The sauce is cooked when a film of orange oil covers the top of the sauce.
This can then be scooped off and any excess blotted away with kitchen paper.
Serve with around 2 OZ (dry weight) spagetti per person. Same recipe can be
used to make Lasagne and similar dishes.
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Spaghetti Sauce
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An interesting change from the traditional Bolognese 90 mins, Serves 4+
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700 Gram DEXTER Beef mince
2 large Onions
5 Garlic cloves
2 Celery stalks
50 Gram Bacon (smoked streaky preferred)
100 Gram Chicken livers
150 mL cheap red wine
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Pinch or 5 dried Marjoram
350 Gram tinned chopped Tomatoes
50 Gram Tomato puree
2 Slurps Tomato ketchup
Pinch or two Salt
Pinch or 4 black Pepper
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Fry the onion, celery and garlic gently until translucent. Add the beef
and cook until grainy, brown and 'separate'. Add the chicken liver (this
simply enriches the flavour, you won't notice its presence when cooked, but
leave it out if you don't like organs...)
Add the wine and bring to the boil to cook it off and reduce slightly. Add
the tomatoes and the puree, herbs, ketchup which adds necessary sweetness and
a bit of thickening, seasoning, bring back to the boil and then cook very
gently for at least an hour, preferably longer.
The sauce is cooked when a thick film of orange oil covers the top of the
sauce. This can then be scooped off and any excess blotted away with kitchen
paper. Like so many things, this benefits from being left for a day to rot
down quietly.
If making for the freezer leave the herbs out and add them when you defrost
and re-heat - frozen herbs not only don't last very well in cooked dishes,
they can make them taste distinctly odd after only a short while. Garlic can
taste metallic after a spell in a freezer, but in my experience you have to
use a huge amount for it to affect the flavour of the dish.
If you don't use chicken livers, an interesting thing to add to the sauce in
its place is either green or black olive paté. About a tablespoonful would be
right.
Serve English style (ie a vat of sauce and four strands of overcooked
spaghetti) or Italian style, (a small amount of sauce and lots of
properly-cooked pasta).
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Moussaka
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Well tried and tested at home. Serves 4+
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700 Gram DEXTER Beef mince
2 large Onions, finely chopped
Pinch Cinnamon
Small handful chopped fresh parsley
Slurp Olive Oil
0.5 pint Bechanel sauce
0.5 pint water
1 beef stock cube
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3 medium size aubergines
1 teaspoon sugar
1 clove Garlic, crushed
4 tablespoons grated strong cheddar cheese or Parmesan
Slurp tomato puree
Pinch or two Salt
Pinch or 4 black Pepper
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Slice the aubergines, salt them and put on one side for an hour. The wash
and dry, and fry in olive oil till soft. Saute the onions in the same oil
till translucent, then add the mince, sugar, garlic, cinnamon, parsley, salt
and pepper and cook till the meat is brown.
Into a casserole, put layers of aubergines and meat, ending with aubergines.
Make up the stock cube with the water and add the tomato puree and add to the
casserole. Bake in the oven at 130C for about an hour. Drain excess fat from
the casserole.
Mix half the cheese into the bechamel source and cover the casserole with it.
Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top and brown it in the oven at 150C
for about 20 minutes.
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Burgers or Patties
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An extremely quick and easy dish! Simply take approx 100g of dexter mince/person
and then add a generous squirt of good tomato paste into the mix. A dash of
Worcester sauce is nice too along with a grind of pepper and touch of salt.
Knead the mix, then take about 100g in a ball and toss it from hand to hand,
to create a firm ball. Flatten the
ball to a “burger” shape, about ˝” thick and then grill or BBQ. They will
stick as there is no added fat in these patties, so be careful and turn
frequently.
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