Cordon bleu (well maybe not...)

This blog does not usually go in for recipes but, following my recent post (here), certain of my interlocutors have enquired about how I cook mince. So here goes. This serves three or four (but you can freeze portions).

Ingredients

500g steak mince ( I recommend the stuff with at least 10% fat but, hey, maybe you're on a diet or something.)
1 big or medium onion
1 or 2 carrots (depending upon how big they are)
1 oxo cube
tomato paste
pepper

Note: you don't need salt - there's more than enough in the oxo cube.

Procedure

1. Simultaneously (more or less):
1a. Brown the mince (ie stick in a saucepan, heat on the hob and beat it with a wooden spoon so that it breaks up and continue until it changes from red to brown).
1b. Chop the onion into as small pieces as you can (preferably without cutting off any fingers)
1c. Dissolve the oxo cube in about half a pint of boiling water.
2. Add the onion to the mince and heat gently on the hob for a minute or two, then add the dissolved oxo and water and leave on a gentle heat on the hob.
3. Chop up the carrot(s) (I prefer slices but if you prefer chunks then that's also ok) and add to mince.
4. Add a squeeze of tomato paste - not too much; then add liberal (well...) amount of pepper.
5. Give the mixture a good stir, bring slowly to the boil and then let simmer for about an hour.

And that's more or less it. Some people argue that you need to thicken the mince gravy but that requires flour and it can get complicated, so usually I don't bother. Serve with boiled potatoes and (if you're really slumming) processed peas.

Acknowledgements to my ex-wife and my mother, neither of whom succeeded in conveying to me more than the most basic rudiments of cookery but who at least tried. Needless to say, they will both be appalled by the above.