Mince And Bowtie Pasta

This meal is inspired by one of my favorite digital creators in the United States, Lindsay Greene. She eats and exercises for a living - true story.

Greene ate something similar a few weeks ago, and because I don’t regularly post meat dishes, I wanted to share this one because it’s absolutely tasty and

My recipe is very easy, and is flavored with simple pantry staples. If you’re gluten-free, you can use other pasta’s. I would recommend anything but chickpea gluten-free pasta, because it gets soft too quickly and will overcook in the mince.

Did you know: The extra lean beef mince from Woolworths has the lowest fat content, compared to Pick n Pay and Checkers. Ostrich mince is the leanest, but the difference between the extra lean beef version and the ostrich mince is very tiny. Woolworths claims there is 130 calories, 5 g fat and 20.9 g protein per 100 g in their extra lean beef mince. Their ostrich mince has 127 calories, 4.4 g fat and 21 g protein per 100g. Lamb mince is the least attractive option coming in at 236 calories, 17.6 g fat and 16.7 g protein per 100g.

Ingredients for 4 meals

1 tsp avocado oil/olive oil

250 g bowtie/butterfly pasta (1/2 bag)

240-300 g lean beef mince

1 onion, diced

4 sprigs of thyme

4 ripe tomato’s, peeled and grated

1 tsp garlic

1 tsp grated ginger

1 tbsp tomato paste

1/2 tsp brown sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp cayenne pepper (omit if you want to)

1/3 cup water

salt to taste

Method

1. In a large pot, on medium-high heat, fry onions in the oil until it’s translucent.

2. Add sprigs of thyme to the pot - stems and all and mix in garlic, ginger and cayenne pepper.

3. Drop mince into the pot and with the tip of your spoon, dig at the meat and keep mixing it to avoid clumping, until all the mince is seared.

4. Lower the heat to medium, add water to the pot, and cook mince for 5 minutes with the lid closed. No peeking.

5. Add tomato, tomato paste, sugar, lemon juice and salt to the pot. Mix well and let simmer for 10 minutes.

6. Add cooked pasta to the pot and give it a good mix.

7. Sprinkle with cheese and serve hot.