ECONOMY GASTRONOMY Bolognese Sauce (Beef mince)

2 tbsp olive oil
2 sticks celery, finely diced.
4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 rashers smoked streaky bacon, very finely shredded.
350ml red wine
1 portion of BASIC MINCE mixture (http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=1125818)
2 * 400g tins chopped tomatoes
1 beef stock cube made up into 250ml beef stock (nutritional values are for low sodium stock, if you use standard you will need to adjust that.)

1. Heat a saucepan and spray with a little oil. When it's nice and hot chuck in the celery, garlic and bacon and let those cook for a minute or two.

2. Pour in the wine and let it boil and reduce until the pan is NEARLY dry.

3. Now add the tins of chopped tomatoes. Bring these to a simmer and then pour in the Basic mince mixture that you have previously prepared. Pour in the stock too and let the contents of the pan simmer away for 45 minutes, uncovered, by which time the ragu should look very rich and sauce like, with a good flavour.

4. Season as required and if storing in the fridge or freezer, spread out as thinly as possible on a tray or in a large baking tin to quickly remove the heat before bagging it up, labelling and putting away.

5. If using now, serve over cooked pasta with grated parmesan.

Number of Servings: 4

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user WAHZOE.