The best savoury mince

Mince. You either love it or hate it. Personally, and obviously I love it. So easy and versatile and able to be loaded with flavour.

Today I'm recreating something from my childhood. A weekly staple was mince on rice. For my husband too, but they sometimes had theirs with mashed potato, which is what we've done tonight. As kids it wasn't quite as refined. Literally mince cooked with onion, tomato sauce and frozen mixed vegetables, so I wanted to give our childhood staple an upgrade.

Half way through cooking I realised this is kind of just a deconstructed cottage pie, but either way, this should become your go to mince mix, do a double batch and freeze some too. The kids devoured it (the little one definitely takes after me, licking his plate clean of every last morsel) and we were all so satisfied from the depth of flavour.

I have a couple of things which I think make it. You may or may not agree. 1. Celery leaves, they hold so much flavour, so as well as the stalk, I reserve the leaves and add them later when the liquid goes in. 2. Tomato sauce, now I don't usually advocate for tomato sauce on a proper meal (it's for chips and pies) but in this case it adds a little bit of sweetness and is used instead of tomato paste and sugar. Adjust your quantity to taste.

I also haven't added any salt to this, with the stock, soy and Worcestershire I don't really think it needs more. Plus we served it with mash tonight, which already has salt too. I used white wine, but any would do. I just specify drinkable. If you wouldn't drink DO NOT cook with it. If you don't want to add wine, just add an extra 1/4 cup stock, and maybe a tsp of vinegar.

Serving suggestions:

• On toast, or in a bowl with crusty bread on the side
• On rice
• On mashed potato or kumara
• As cottage pie
• Add a tin of beans and perhaps an extra cup of stock and eat it as a stew
• As a healthy pie filling
• In a baked potato

Ingredients:

• 1 large onion
• 2 carrots
• 2 stalks of celery, leaves reserved
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 500g beef mince
• 1/4 cup your choice of drinkable wine, optional 
• 1 1/2 cups beef stock
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup of tomato sauce
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp onion powder 
• 1 tsp dried parsley (2 tbsp fresh) 
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 1/2 cup frozen peas

Finely dice the onion, carrot and celery, setting the leaves aside. 

Heat the oil to a medium heat in a large frying pan that has a lid. 

Gently saute the vegetables, stirring, till they are softened. About 5 minutes. 

Add the beef mince. Use the spoon to break the meat up, and cook till lightly browned and dry. 

Add the wine, use this to loosen any crusty bits off the bottom of the pan. 

Once the wine has cooked off, add the stock, 1/4 cup tomato sauce, soy and Worcestershire sauces, onion powder, parsley, and reserved finely chopped celery leaves.  

Simmer on a low heat, covered for at least 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Remove the lid. Taste, and add more tomato sauce (or soy/ Worcestershire) if desired. 

Mix the cornflour with a tiny bit of cold water to make a smooth paste, stir this into your mince, along with the frozen peas and simmer, uncovered, stirring every minute or two for 10 minutes until reduced and thickened. 

Serve in one of the ways suggested above.