Sunfed Beef Review & Recipe
A few years ago Sunfed brought a great mock chicken product to the shores of Australia. It cooks up nicely and can be used in a variety of different dishes. I’ve also been known to just eat it straight from the frypan. They’ve now released something new to further bolster our plant based meat options: Sunfed Beef.
Sunfed’s “Bull Free” Beef is available in major supermarkets which makes it very accessible and convenient to us Aussies. I bought mine at Coles in Prahran. You can find it in the chilled plant based meat section of the store.
I’ve used Sunfed Beef twice now and I’ve been really impressed with how it cooks up. The most striking quality is the texture and consistency it brings to the dish. It has a lovely softness that almost made it feel slow-cooked in my bolognese sauce.
Sunfed Beef Bolognese Filo Pies
I created these vegetarian bolognese pies using Sunfed Beef, but they can easily be made vegan by replacing the parmesan with your favourite vegan cheese. You can find my recipe below.
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The best thing about these pies is the softness of the bolognese mixture inside. The Sunfed Beef cooks up so beautifully that these have a deliciously soft filling but a crunch filo pastry crust.
Sunfed Beef Ingredients & Nutrition
I love it when I see plant based meat products with a limited amount of healthy ingredients. The key protein used in this mince is derived from Peas, and with only 9 ingredients and no gluten, soy or palm oil, it is definitely a healthier choice.
Water, Pea Protein (30%), NZ Beet Juice (6%), Yeast Extract, Coconut Oil, Cold Pressed Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Pea Fibre, Cocoa Butter.
From a nutritional standpoint it comes in at 183 calories per 100g, which puts it on par with regular lean beef mince and well below Beyond’s mince product which sits at around 230 calories per 100g. Most of the calories come from protein with a whopping 24.8g per 100g, compared to only 17.6g per 100g in the Beyond alternative.
Texture
Regular beef mince can turn out gritty unless it’s slow cooked over a longer time. This product had none of that grittiness and felt really lovely to eat. As it was cooking I noticed it wasn’t browning up like regular mince would, and I was worried that it would affect the texture of the finished product, but in actual fact it made the whole dish even yummier than it would have been otherwise.
I’m not sure what would happen if this was over cooked, but the recipes I tried didn’t require long cook times so the mince Bull Free Beef Mince worked out well.
Price
The price of Sunfed Beef is very reasonable. I paid $9 for 350g which works out to around $25 per kg. This is great in comparison to other premium meat or meat free alternatives.
Verdict
I have already used Sunfed Beef twice and will definitely use it again. It’s versatile, healthy and plant based. The price is reasonable and mixing it with other proteins like chickpeas or beans could make the cost spread even further.
I give it 5 stars and look forward to eating it again.
Sunfed Beef Bolognese Filo Pies
Equipment
- Muffin Tins (8 Large Holes)
Ingredients
- tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 Onion diced
- 2 cloves Garlic or 3 if they are small cloves
- 1 stalk Celery diced
- 350 g Sunfed Beef Mince or other mince alternative
- 1/4 tsp Chilli Flakes
- 1/2 tsp Nutmeg
- 1 tsp Dried Italian Herbs
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1/4 tsp Pepper
- 350 g Stir Through Pasta Sauce I used roasted garlic and onion but you can use whatever you like as long as it's thick and rich
- 20 leaves Fresh Basil (shredded) plus extra for garnishing
- 200 g Cherry Tomatoes quartered
- 50 g Parmesan Cheese (cut into 8 small blocks) or your favourite vegan cheese alternative
- 75 g Butter (melted) or your favourite vegan butter alternative
- 8 sheets Filo pastry defrosted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 170 degreese celcius (fan forced) and place a baking tray in the oven to warm up.
- In a large frying pan heat the olive oil over medium high heat and once warm, sautee the onion, garlic and celery until translucent and fragrant.
- Add the mince and cook for around 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. It won't necessarily brown, but it should look soft and even in colour when it's cooked.
- Add the chili flakes, nutmeg, italian herbs, salt and pepper and stir. Cook for a furhter 3 minutes.
- Add the stir through sauce and around 1/2 a cup of water and mix well, cook for a further 2 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and transfer to a mixing bowl. While the mixture cools, prepare the muffin tin.
- Using a brush, brush the inside of each muffin hold with a little melted butter to grease the tin.
- Lay a sheet of filo pastry horizontally on your bench and brush one half of the sheet (so the left or right side) with butter. Fold the pastry in half. Brush half again with butter and fold th eother way. Cut the rectangle of pastry in half, brush one side with butter and then stack the other half on top at a 90 degre angle. You should end up with a cross shape.
- Place the pastry shell into the muffin tray hole and press in gently allowing the edges to overhang. Repeate with the remaining sheets of pastry.
- Mix the basil leaves and cherry tomatoes into the bolognese mixture and then spoon equal portions into the 8 pie shells.
- Top each pie with a small block/slice of parmesan, fold down the pastry corners to semi-cover the top and then brush the exposed pastry with butter.
- Cook in the preheated oven for around 30 minutes of until the pstry is golden brown. Once done, use a spoon to pry the pies out of the muffin tin and then allow to cool a little on a wire rack.
