Excellent flavor. For the wine I used a very good Cab Sauv. I didn't finely chop the veggies because I didn't want mush, I cut them in smallish bite size pieces. I did 3 carrots, 2 celery, 2#'s ground beef and 3 tablespoons of the tomato paste. Other than these my changes were all in method of cooking. 1) Browned the beef and set aside in a bowl. 2) While beef was cooking I sauteed, in a small pan, on low heat 3 tablespoons of tomato paste in a drop or two of oil to cook the bitter tomato paste flavor out. Gives it a touch of warm smokey flavor instead of condensed raw tomato. Roughly 30 minutes on low adding a drop or 2 of oil if it starts to look dry. 3) Sauteed onions in what little grease the beef rendered for one 1 minute, then added the carrots, celery and garlic. Cooked for about 30 seconds to get the raw out of the garlic. 4) Added the beef back into the pan with the veggies and then the flour as called for plus 1 heaping tbsp. Mixed all together and cooked on medium low for a minute or 2. Then added all the wet ingredients and seasoning. Except no additional salt as I used beef bone broth with sodium. Put it in fridge to cool down. For the mashed potatoes I used butter, heavy cream, dollop of sour cream and 2 small heads of roasted garlic. If you're going to splurge on calories and fat you might as well make it worth it. Not a meal to eat often, but once in a while won't hurt you.
