Beef and Lentil Bolognese

Classic Italian crowd pleaser adapted to modern life.

Slow cooker is the best way to cook both mince meat and lentils It creates the most tender meat with flavour bursting through the whole dish. I used mushrooms to sneak in some veggies but you could also add diced carrots or spinach. It is also a great one to freeze any leftovers.

I like putting lentils in my mince meat dishes as it bulks out the dish without having to buy more meat, it's slightly better for the environment and is lower in fat! You can make it with just beef by not adding the lentils and adding a beef stock cube with just 100ml water instead of 2 1/2 cups. Or just make a lentil Bolognese by just not adding the meat for a delicious vegan dish using vegetable stock cube.

I served mine up with linguini but could also enjoy with other forms of pasta, as a sloppy Joe or if you fancy the effort can turn it into a lasagne.

Beef and Lentil Bolognese

Ingredients

Serves 6

• 750g 5% fat beef mince meat

• 1 large white onion, diced

• 1 cup green or red lentils

• 2 1/2 cup water

• 1 beef or vegetable stock cube

• 250g mushrooms diced

• 5 cloves garlic

• 2 tbsp mixed dried herbs

• 500g passata

Directions

1. Heat a frying pan with a little oil

2. Fry off the onion and beef until the beef is browned, add to slow cooker

3. Add the rest of the ingredients to the slow cooker, season and mix well

4. Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours