Tarragon and Red Wine Meat Sauce

This recipe is loosely based on something my father used to always cook at home. One of the reasons I use the term ‘loosely’ is because his recipe was ever-changing. It was combination of whatever he felt like adding, paired with whatever we had on hand.

On one occasion, he brought his meat sauce to the table, grinning cheek to cheek. He added a secret ingredient and was convinced no one would be able to guess it. Much to his surprise and disappointment, I knew immediately his “secret ingredient” was, in fact, tarragon.

Tarragon just so happens to be my favourite herb of all time. I even had a motto about it – when in doubt add tarragon. It’s great in salad dressings, mixed through scrambled eggs and goes amazingly in anything with a tomato base.

While, in my household, we would traditionally serve this with pasta, it can easily lend itself to so many different things. This is the same sauce I use for my eggplant lasagna and recently, I have been serving it with sautéed eggplant and quinoa as a pasta alternative.

Classic Meat Sauce
Serves 6
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes (minimum)

2 Onions
2 Garlic Cloves
1-2 Tablespoons French Tarragon
800gms Beef Mince
1 Cup Red Wine
2x 400gms Cans Tomatoes
400mls Beef Stock (or water with 2 oxo cubes)
2-3 Bay Leaves
2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste

Start by heating up oil in a pan over a medium heat – for this, I usually use either a sauté pan or casserole dish. While the oil is heating up, dice and chop both the onions and garlic, then add them to the pan. Turn the heat down to low and slowly start to sweat the onions and garlic – to sweat something means to cook it long and slow on a low heat. You’ll know the onions are ready once they go beautifully translucent.

Once the onions have gone translucent, move them to once side of the pan and add the mince. The reason for this is to give the mince as much space to brown as possible. With a wooden spoon, break the mince up so there are no lumps and it can cook evenly. Once browned all over, stir through the onions, garlic and fresh tarragon.

Turn the heat up to medium/high and cook for another few minutes, stirring continuously so nothing burns. Once the pan is nice and hot again, add the red wine. Use the wine to deglaze the pan – removing any caramelised bits that stuck to the bottom.

After the wine has reduced slightly (2-3 minutes), mix through the canned tomatoes, beef stock, bay leaves and tomato paste. If you have some whole tomatoes that have lost their firmness, they can also make a great alternative to canned tomatoes.

Stir all the ingredients together and turn down to a low simmer. Leave for at least 30 minutes to let all the flavours infuse together. Often, when I get home from work, I’ll throw this together and just leave it on a low heat until we’re ready to eat. This can be anywhere from 30 minutes to well over an hour and a half.

As you’d expect this meal goes great with pasta, however during summer I love taking advantage of some of my favourite seasonal veg - serving it on top of sautéed eggplant and quinoa. In winter, it also works really well with cauliflower rice. No matter what I serve it on, I always top it with some more fresh tarragon and a good handful of grated cheese.

Let me know how you get on and make sure to tag @belleskitchennz in any posts you share. If you make any of your own changes, please be sure to let me know how you personalised it and made it work for you.