Next up in our series of one pot, easy to cook recipes suitable for cooking in a caravan is my favourite dinner, which has seen me through many a chilly night – my special Bolognese sauce.

Serves 4

300g lean beef mince

1 onion, chopped finely

1 clove of garlic, crushed, or if that’s too fiddly, a squeeze of garlic from a tube

2 tbsp tomato puree

1 can of chopped tomatoes

A good slug of red wine

Seasonings – 1 tsp oregano, 1 tsp paprika, a scrunch of salt and lots of pepper

Grated cheese

1. Gently fry the onions in olive oil until they’re translucent and starting to turn golden.
2. Add the mince – as you’re using lean mince there’s no need to brown it separately as there won’t be that much fat coming off it. Stir with the onions until the meat is sealed.
3. Add the garlic, stir and leave to warm for a couple of minutes.
4. Now add your seasonings. A lot of people add the seasonings at the end, but if you add them at this point the flavours will be absorbed into the meat much better.
5. Add the tomato puree and stir until everything is mixed in.
6. Now add the chopped tomatoes and the wine, stir and bring up to a simmer.
7. Turn the heat down, pour yourself some of that wine and leave the sauce to simmer – at least 20 mins is recommended, and it’ll be better the longer you leave it, but you can get away with 10.
8. Put some freshly cooked pasta (I use spaghetti or linguini, but penne would be just as good and less messy!) in bowls, top with the grated cheese and serve.

Now, this is not strictly a one pot meal, as you need to cook some pasta to go with it separately. If you only have one ring though, it’ll keep warm fine with the lid on for long enough for you to boil up some spaghetti to eat it with. In an emergency, I’ve had this with just some crusty bread on the side before and it was still amazing. If you have a bit more space and time, this is a great meal to bolster up your vegetable intake. You can chop hard veg like carrots or peppers very fine and add after the onions and before the mince and they’ll almost disappear into the sauce but add a nice richness to the base. Soft vegetables like mushrooms, aubergine and courgette can be cut into very small chunks and added after the tomato puree.
As always, cooking in a caravan should always be insured against with caravan insurance .