Perfected by me over 15 years.The perfect balance between of ease of cooking with pantry/fridge-common ingredients and rich tomatoey goodness.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 punnet ground beef (the Woolworths organic minced beef tastes best)
• 1 big white or brown onion (sliced)
• 2 big cooking carrots (grated)
• 2 zucchinis (grated)
• 500g pre-sliced mushrooms
• 1 heaped teaspoon prechopped garlic from a jar
• half teaspoon prechopped chilli from a jar
• 1 beef stock cube (dissolved in hot water)
• generous shake of salt
• 1 jar tomato passata
• 1 800g tin of tomatos
• big shake of dried oregano (e.g. two heaped dessert spoons)
• big shake of dried parsley (e.g. two heaped dessert spoons)
• big shake of dried basil (e.g. two heaped dessert spoons)

METHOD

• grate carrots and zucchinis, put to the side
• Fry up onions till soft
• Fry up meat till well browned (with onions)
• Put everything else in!
• Simmer till the ingredients of the sauce seem 'saucy' and well integrated. Usually takes 1 to 2 hrs. Make sure you stir often so it doesn't stick.

Serve with al-dente pasta (thin spaghetti or regular spaghetti), grated parmesan cheese and optionally, good quality crusty bread and butter.Good luck!!! It's a pretty fail-safe recipe.