VERSATILE VEGGIES, BEANS & BEEF

What a perfect night to have a hearty beef meal for dinner. As the second State of Origin airs tonight, Queensland is in full swing, supporting their troops as only the sunshine state knows how. Maroon flags flutter in the wind as they boldly peak out of car windows. The city is a sea of red shirts and for those who wear blue today, shame on you. You just may get a panicked sms from your partner asking you to bring a non-blue shirt to work for him to quickly slip into (yours truly).

I’ve never fully understood the QLD love of rugby, being a true-blue AFL girl from Melbourne, however I found myself watching the last origin game with more enthusiasm and enjoyment than I care to reveal. And what goes well with sports viewing? Well food of course. My mother makes a similar recipe for me whenever I come to hers for lunch, except that she uses more vegetables and the vegetables & mince become a delicious sauce for corn chips. You could also eat it plain as it is very filling or spooned on top of a small bed of brown rice. Hopefully me and my fiancée can eat this wholesome manly meal as we watch QLD win!!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoon coconut oil (liquid form)
• 1 small red onion, finely chopped
• 500g extra lean or organic beef mince
• 1 medium sweet potato, roughly grated
• 2 medium zucchinis, roughly grated
• 1 large carrot, roughly grated
• 2 x 400g tin of diced tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon gluten-free Worcester sauce 
• 500g (2 cups) gluten-free beef or vegetable stock
• 1 x 400g tin red kidney beans, rinsed & drained 

COOKING 

1. Heat a large deep frying pan over medium-high heat and add oil, swirling to coat the pan. Add onion and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes or until soft. Add mince and cook for 5 minutes or until the beef has browned, mashing up any lumps of meat that may appear. 

2. Add sweet potato, zucchini and carrot and stir to combine with the cooked mince for 1 minute. Add diced tomatoes and Worcester sauce and stir well for another minute.  Raise the heat to high, covering the pan and bringing it to the boil. When boiled, reduce to a simmer and cover for around 20 minutes or until almost no liquid remains. At this point add the red kidney beans and a pinch of sea salt & black pepper and stir into the beef. Continue to cook until the beans are warm. Remove from heat and serve warm, with corn chips, brown rice or on its own. 

Serves / 4 - 6

Total Preparation time / 15 minutes 

Total Cooking time / 30 minutes 

x Emily