Hearty Penne Beef

% of readers think this story is Fact. Add your two cents.

 

 

They were taken late in the day at supper time, beneath the lights in the kitchen of this house. So they are not up to my usual standard.  I am really sorry for that.  Don’t let the bad photography put you off from trying this fabulous recipe.

I can promise you that not only is it delicious, but it is really easy to make. It is also a real man/family pleaser of a dish!  

 

Knowing how much ground beef is loved in this house, especially dad, I picked up this recipe magazine at the grocery shops a few weeks back.  I asked my sister to pick out a recipe from the magazine that she thought both dad and Dan would like.

This is the one she picked.  I have to say it was a very nice choice.  Simple, yet hearty, and containing several of your five a day.  I love spinach in any way shape or form. I was pleased.

 

This is a photo I took of it before we added the cheese on top. You can see the richness of the sauce and the abundance of meat in it, plus the lovely vibrant green color of the spinach.  I love dishes like this.

It begins with making a really simple beef and tomato sauce.  We were a little bit confused by the ingredients list so I will tell you what we used.   The instructions were a bit vague on that we thought.

Perhaps that is because we are in Canada and this is an American magazine.  Anyways, here is what we used and I can tell you it worked perfectly.

It spoke about using a can of beef broth. We were not sure. Did it mean condensed beef broth, undiluted?  Or was it already diluted beef broth.  Hmmm . . . 

We used a liquid stock concentrate that needed to be diluted and then made an equivalent amount of beef broth that was somewhere in between.  It was not concentrated, nor was it weak.

  

It also called for canned tomato puree.  Hmmm . . .  was that tomato paste?  I think not as that would be an awful lot of tomato paste.

Was it tomato sauce?  Was it pureed tomatoes? 

We went with the pureed tomatoes and used a bottle of Tomato Passata, which is essentially pureed tomatoes.  This worked perfectly. 

 

The original recipe called for cooking the past and then cooking the sauce. In my experience this is never a good idea. The pasta sticks together, unless you toss it with a bit of oil.  We opted to make the sauce and then while that was simmering cook the pasta.

This method worked beautifully.  Both were finished cooking around the same time.  We had a nice thick sauce and perfectly cooked pasta, ready to stir together. 

 

I really don’t like it when recipes are not specific in what they want you to use. I would have expected a bit more from Taste of Home, but then again, I try to write my recipes so that anyone can cook them.

This is because I have a developmentally challenged daughter.  She likes to cook.  She sometimes has a difficult time understanding what is expected, and so I write my recipes so that she, and anyone like her, can understand exactly what to do and what is required. 

 

Also not all cooks have years of experience to fall back on.  There are a great many novice cooks out there.  I want them to be able to understand exactly what they need and what they need to do. Its that simple.

I have never had anyone complain yet. Seriously.

This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: [email protected]