Instructions: Lightly brown the onion, garlic and celery in the oil, over medium heat, add the meat and continue cooking and stirring until all the meat in browned and crumbly looking. Add the stock powder, flour, garlic salt and as much ground pepper as you like, stir through. Add the red wine, tomato paste and as much water as needed to achieve the desired consistency. Add the carrot if you want it. At this stage I turn the heat way down low, put the lid on the pot and go away and do something else for an hour or so, stirring the sauce occasionally on my way past. When Im ready I add the mushrooms and parsley, and cook for at least another 10 minutes. The sauce is now ready to eat or freeze as required.

Notes:
* I often make large batches (up to 2 kg meat) of this sauce and freeze it in 1-meal size containers.

* When I want to "hide" lots of vegetables in this, I blend the cooked sauce in the blender on low speed.

* This sauce is great as a pour over sauce for all types of pasta, and I also use it in lasagne.

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