Hidden Veg Beef Bolognese

Ingredients

• 500 g beef mince
• 250 ml hot beef stock
• 2 carrots, roughly chopped
• 1 courgette, roughly chopped
• 1 red pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped
• 2 celery sticks, roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 3 garlic cloves, grated
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 400 g dried spaghetti
• 60 g Parmesan, finely grated
• 100 g dried red lentils, rinsed

Method

1. Blitz the carrot, courgette, red pepper and celery with half the chopped tomatoes until smooth. You want a thick, spoonable puree rather than a thin soup; that body is what gives the sauce its richness and it's how the veg disappears into the ragù.
2. Warm the olive oil in a large, deep stainless or cast-iron pan over a medium-high heat. Pat the mince dry, season generously with salt and pepper, then brown in two batches; don't crowd the pan. All at once and the meat steams in its own water instead of catching on the base, and you lose the brown stuck bits that carry the whole sauce.
3. Return all the mince to the pan, add the onion and a pinch of salt, then cook for 6 to 7 minutes until the onion is soft and translucent and the fond on the bottom is deepening. Stir in the grated garlic, tomato puree and oregano and cook for 30 seconds; just until fragrant, no more.
4. Pour in the veg puree, the remaining chopped tomatoes, the red lentils and the hot beef stock. Scrape the base to lift the fond into the sauce. Simmer gently, uncovered, for 30 to 35 minutes, stirring occasionally and topping up with a splash more stock or water if it tightens. It's ready when it looks glossy, slightly darkened, and coats the back of a spoon.
5. While the sauce simmers, bring a large pan of water to the boil and salt it generously; it needs enough salt to carry the other flavours. Season the pasta itself. Cook the spaghetti until al dente, then reserve a mugful of starchy water and drain.
6. Taste the sauce and add salt or black pepper if needed. It should be rich, savoury, just a little sweet from the veg.
7. Toss the spaghetti through the ragù in the pan over a low heat, loosening with splashes of pasta water until every strand is coated and the sauce clings rather than pooling at the bottom of the bowl.