Little Dish Super Sauce

As part of our partnership with The Felix Project to help feed families and children across London, we've created a special Little Dish Super Sauce to provide parents with an easy, cost efficient, and highly nutritious meal.

There are 2 delicious versions (meat or veggie)– both of which can be used to make seven different dishes for the week. The Little Dish Super Sauce recipe is simple and versatile, allowing families to easily substitute ingredients with whatever they have on hand in the fridge.

Cook time

60mins

Difficulty

Easy

3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, chopped or grated
1 courgette, chopped or grated
400g fresh beef mince – remove for vegetarian version
Handful of mushrooms, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 tablespoons mixed herbs
1-2 tablespoons tomato puree (optional)
100g(1/2 cup) of red lentils – if you don’t have red lentils, any lentils or chickpeas will be fine
100ml (1/2 cup) chicken stock or water – for vegetarian version, use vegetable stock
3 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes

Heat the olive oil in a large pot or heavy-bottomed casserole over medium heat.
Add the onion, carrot and courgette and sauté until softened but not browned, about 6 minutes.
Add the mince, crumbling it with the edge of a wooden spoon, and then the mushrooms.
Mix everything together, then add the garlic and mixed herbs and cook for 4-5 minutes until the mince starts to brown. Then stir through tomato puree if using.
Add the red lentils and stir into the mixture, then add the stock or water and let simmer for 2-3 minutes.
Add the tomatoes and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and let the sauce simmer for an hour.

Top Tips:

This is a versatile recipe in which the vegetables can be easily substituted:

Use leeks and celery instead of onion, or use a mixture
Use butternut squash or sweet potato instead of carrot, or use a mixture
Use chopped peppers instead of courgette, or use a mixture
Skip the mushrooms if you don’t have any on hand
If you have extra tomatoes, these can be chopped up and used in addition to the tinned tomatoes
If you have spinach that needs using up, add a handful during the last 10 minutes of simmering
Frozen vegetables also work great here

Ways to serve: