Paprika Bolognese

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 300 g minced beef
• 3 bell peppers, red and/or yellow
• 1 large onion(s)
• 1 small zucchini
• 2 garlic cloves
• ½ jar dried tomatoes
• 3 tbsp olives, black and green
• 200 g feta cheese
• 1 tsp capers
• 75 ml tomatoes, pureed
• 1 shot of white wine
• 50 ml milk
• 1 tbsp butter
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• Cayenne pepper
• Lovage powder
• Paprika powder, sweet
• chili powder
• 2 bay leaves
• salt and pepper
• Parmesan, freshly grated

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour; Total time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes

only in appearance a classic Bolognese

Heat the butter in a pan. Finely chop the onion and sauté in the butter over low heat for at least 20 minutes. Meanwhile, roughly dice the bell peppers and zucchini and place them in a bowl with the garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, feta cheese, capers, passata, and olives. Blend until smooth. Increase the heat to high, add the minced meat to the onions, and fry. Deglaze with a splash of white wine and simmer until the liquid has evaporated. Then add the milk and stir. Simmer until the liquid has reduced by about half. Add the bell pepper puree to the pan and stir. Season with pepper, salt, chili, cayenne pepper, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon cumin, sweet paprika, and lovage. Add the bay leaves and simmer on low heat for 20 minutes. Just before serving, sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Serve with tortellini. Tip: If you like, you can finely chop a carrot and a celery stalk and sauté them with the onions. You can omit the passata if you don’t want to open a whole package. We had some left over, so we added it to the sauce.