- A 6.5 Litre (6.9 US Quarts) Slow Cooker
- A Hand Blender
- A Lidded Saute Plan
- 8 to 10 plastic freezer tubs
- An automatic timer plug
- Oil for frying (I use Rape, any good high temprature oil will do)
- 4 x 400g (14oz) Cans of Peeled Italian Plum Tomatoes
- 140g Double Concentrate Italian Tomato Puree
- 2 Beef Stock Cubes
- 1/2 Bottle of GOOD red wine (Merlot or Rioja are best, certainly something full bodied)
- 1/2 tsp Oregano
- 1/2 tsp Rosemary
- 1/2 tsp Basil
- 4 Medium Onions
- 4 Large Carrots
- A Head of Celery
- A Half or a Whole Bulb of Garlic (your choice)
- 1kg (just over 2lb) 12% fat Beef Mince
- 4 Bay Leaves
- 1 or 2 Jars or Cans of crushed tomatoes (optional, adds to the texture)
- 2 Punnets of Mushrooms (optional)
Into the slow cooker put the tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, beef stock cubes, red wine, oregano, rosemary, basil. Now blend very smooth with the stick blender. Switch the slow cooker on, set it to high and close the lid.
Peel, roughly chop and fry the onions, carrots, celery and garlic. Once they have softened and browned a bit, tip into the slow cooker and again blenmd it smooth.
Fry the mince, breaking up all the lumps, turn it down and reduce some of the liquid. Tip the mince AND the juice (never throw this away) into the slow cooker and stir
Add the bay and crushed tomatoes and stir
Quarter the mushrooms and fry, put the lid on the saute pan. Wait 5 minutes for the water to come out of the mushrooms. Remove the lid and continue to fry gently until the water is reduced down to a dark liquer. Tip the mushrooms AND the liquer (never throw this away) into the slow cooker and stir.
Clap the lid on the slow cooker and leave it on high. Check every hour, once it's good and hot and bubbling, turn it down to low. At this point I conenct the timer plug and set it to run for 4 hours on low and go to bed. The next morning I unplug the slow cooker and move it to one side. This is the important bit. Leave it to cool until the evening. At this point it should be about 24 hours since you started. Now you ladle it into my plastic tubs for the freezer. I make labels with the contents and the date (month/year) using masking tape and freeze, switching the freezer to quick freeze.
Thats it, defrost and then reheat on a stove, serve with spaghetti (I prefer linguine) and garlic bread.
