Quick, Easy and Cheap minced beef dishes

Minced beef has to be the most versatile of ingredients, its very easy to cook with, easily absorbs flavours and can cook for a long period or a shorter quick cook without loosing flavour or texture…

Tip: Buy good quality lean minced beef – don’t store for long use fresh and freeze quickly to keep flavours.

Here’s examples of delicious dishes you can make using 500g of humble good quality minced beef…

Chilli Beef in nachos, tacos, wraps, or jacket potatoes, vary it with different topping for example salsa, cheese, guacamole, lime juice, coriander.

Meatloaf – spice it up with chilli or add some fresh herbs and serve with tossed salads.

Cottage pie – top with carrot & parsnip mash or potato & parsnip with horseradish

Lasagne - forget the béchamel and use cottage cheese & fresh basil pesto.

Meatballs, serve with a tomato & basil sauce, arabiatta or do them Moroccan style add some ground cumin, coriander & chilli serve with couscous

Homemade Burgers…

Everyone loves a good homemade burger… here’s a few variations that will satisfy everyone..

Basic ingredients..

500g minced good quality beef, 1 egg, 1 handful of fine breadcrumbs, salt & ground pepper.

(you don’t have to use breadcrumbs, however do pop them into the fridge for at least 30 mins to set before cooking)

This is a simple plain recipe however, you could top with melted cheese & bacon or why not top with a little with mixed pepper sauce..

These variations will keep everyone interested..

Mexican – 1 teasp chilli powder, 1 handful of coriander, juice of 1 lime

Italian inspired – add some sunblushed tomatoes,

basil pesto into the mixture

Aisany – grate ginger, garlic & sweet chilli sauce into the mixture

Spanish – chopped chorizo sausage & carmelized red onions

Jacket Potatoes

Scrub the potatoes and leave their skins on. Place on a baking tray in a preheated oven Cook for 50 to 60 mins or until cooked through. When cooked cut a cross in the top of each potato and squeeze to open the cross. Serve with any of the following.

Chilli beef w kidney beans & sour cream

Bolognese w grated parmesa

Delicious Chilli Beef..

This chilli con carne is ready to go in the pan in a few mins.. then it will bubble away happily until dinner time

Ingredients

500g/1lb 2oz good-quality beef mince

1 glass of red wine

2 onions, diced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 carrots, diced

2 celery sticks, diced

2 red peppers, diced

1 heaped tsp chilli powder

1 heaped tsp ground cumin

1 heaped tsp ground cinnamon

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 x 400g/14oz can red kidney beans, drained

2 x 400g/14oz cans chopped tomatoes

To serve

sour cream

chopped fresh coriander leaves

lime wedges

nachos

Preparation method

Heat two tablespoons of the oil in a large frying pan over

a medium heat. Add the mince and fry until golden-brown all over.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a saucepan over a medium to high heat. Add the onions, garlic, carrots, celery and peppers and fry until softened.

Add the chilli powder, cumin and cinnamon and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Fry for a further 4-5 minutes, stirring well.

Remove the mince from the pan using a slotted spoon and add to the vegetable mixture.

Add the drained kidney beans and the chopped tinned tomatoes and bring the mixture to the boil. Reduce the heat until the mixture is simmering, then half-cover the pan with a lid and simmer for about an hour, stirring every now and again to stop it from catching on the bottom of the pan.

To serve, ladle the chilli into four serving bowls. Drizzle over the soured cream. Sprinkle with the chopped coriander. Garnish with the lime wedges and serve with nachos or steamed alongside

Penne Pasta with Meatballs & Tomato Sauce

500g beef minced

2 tbsp tomato puree

1 red onion chopped finely

2 cloves of garlic finely chopped

Sprinkle of chilli flakes (if you like spicy food)

1 cup of breadcrumbs

1 carrot grated

2 eggs beaten

Olive oil

2 tbsp of warm water

500g Penne Pasta

Tomato Sauce

2 cans of tomatoes

2 cloves of garlic

1 red onion finely chopped

1 tablespoon of sugar

1 glass of white wine

Sprinkle of chilli flakes (only if you like spicy food)

1 handful of chopped basil

Cook off the onion and garlic for a few mins, then add the wine and cook for 3 min, pop in the tomatoes,& chopped basil. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 mins.

Meatballs

Place the mince, tomato puree, egg, onion mixture breadcrumbs, carrot and warm water into a large bowl and mix well with your hands.

Using your hands shape the meat into bit sized meatballs, roll in flour and place on a tray while you finish rolling all the shapes.

Cook the meatballs on a hot pan in small batches until browned. Keep warm in the oven while cooking the remaining meatballs..

Cook the pasta according to the instructions on pack.

Pop the meatballs into the hot tomato sauce mixture for 15 mins until cooked through.. serve scattered with fresh basil & grated parmesan cheese.

Oven baked Lasagne

Using cottage cheese instead of béchamel

Ingredients

500g lean beef mince

1 onion, finely chopped

1 red pepper, seeds removed, finely chopped

2 generous handfuls of chopped mushrooms

1 tbls of tomato purée

1 large glass of red wine

10 fresh basil leaves shredded

2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes

salt and freshly ground pepper

Approx 15 dried pasta sheets

300g cottage cheese

150g/5oz grated mozzarella cheese

Olive oil to cook..

Preparation method

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and grease a medium sized oven proof baking dish.

Heat a dash of oil in a large heavy-based frying pan over a high heat. Fry the mince until browned all over. Remove the mince from the pan.

Add another dash of oil to the pan over a medium heat. Gently fry the onion, peppers and mushrooms until soft.

Add the mince back into the pan together with the tomato purée and wine. Cook for a further five minutes.

Add the tomatoes and herbs, and bring to the mixture to the boil. Simmer for at least 30 minutes and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Line the base of the baking dish with pasta and cover with about one-third of the mince mixture. Pop teaspoonfuls of cottage cheese evenly across the mince, using up about 1/3 of the cheese.

Repeat this in layers once or twice depending on the size of your dish…finally cover the lasagne with the grated mozzarella. Bake in theover for 45 minutes, or until golden-brown and bubbling on top. Serve with a fresh baby leaf salad.. enjoy..

Best Shepherds Pie

Ingredients

1 large onion chopped

2 medium carrots, chopped

500g beef mince

400g can tomatoes

290ml beef stock

1 bay leaf

fresh thyme leaves from 1 sprig

2 tbsp tomato purée

salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the topping

8 potatoes, peeled and chopped

2 carrots, 2 parsnips, peeled and chopped

1 cup of milk

1 tablespoon of butter

Olive Oil for cooking

Preparation method

Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5.

Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the onion and carrot and cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes until soft.

Add the minced beef and cook for 3 minutes to brown.

Add the tomatoes, purée, beef stock, bay leaf and thyme.