Today’s favourite is bolognaise sauce. It is a versatile base for may meals and most people have their own version. Here is mine which has evolved over many years.
BOLOGNAISE SAUCE
250g beef mince
1 cup TVP (dry)
1 cup hot water
1 onion (diced)
400g can tomatoes
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 – 2 teaspoons mixed herbs
Tabasco sauce
Black pepper
Soak the TVP in hot water for about 10 minutes.
Cook the onion until soft. Add the mince and cook until browned.
Add the TVP mixture and combine. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer gently for 15 – 20 minutes.
HINTS & MODIFICATIONS
The onion I used was frozen in packs of 150g – this is the size of a medium onion. By flattening the contents of the bag it is easy to break off a portion if you only want the equivalent of half an onion. These packs were made from onions we grew during the winter.
The upturned jar of tomato paste in the photo is how I store it in the fridge. This stops it going mouldy and is much easier than spooning it into ice-cube trays and freezing which is another option.
This batch of sauce included some vegetables as well. I added a grated zucchini and grated carrot to the mix as well as some pureed leftover vegies from a previous meal. I did add an extra can of tomatoes as the mix was a little dry. This ended up making 9 serves which is not bad from 250g of mince.
Other additions can include 1/2 cup red wine, 2 teaspoons of beef stock powder, 1 cup of finely chopped celery.
There are many ways you can use this sauce and it is limited only by your imagination. Apart from the obvious one of serving over pasta you can make lasagne, stuff cannelloni tubes, top baked potatoes, serve with nachos and make savoury pancake filling. While some of the ideas are not strictly traditional you can make variations to suit your family. The addition of kidney beans and chilli turn it into chilli con carne, cook a bit longer to reduce the liquid and top with mashed potato for a shepherd’s pie or put into shortcrust pastry to make a meat pie.
Apologies for ‘Friday Favourites’ being a day late but my camera was not ‘talking’ to the computer last night. I hope enjoy the meal suggestions in this post and please add your own thoughts as well.
I have also updated the post for Layered Salad. I have finally added the photos to this post.
organised castle 
I make mine similar but put red lentils in with the small amount of mince to cook and no one even notices. I often double the recipe and make lasagne or something else with the leftovers.
What is TPV?
TVP is Textured vegetable protein. It comes in a couple of different shapes and you can buy it in small packs in the supermarkets but I buy mine from the bulk bins at any health food store. The only problem is that is soy and that raises the whole GM (genetically modified) issue. I may consider using lentils as another way to bulk out the mince.
This where I like to add the grated zuchinni and a grated carrot. It ‘blends’ in well and the family don’t know they are eating vegetables!