Beef Ragu

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Slow cook this delicious Beef Ragu in the oven to get the most delicious, tender and comforting dish that’s perfect with pappardelle. It’s a real special flavour-packed dinner but it’s SO easy and the prep is simple.

Prep Time20

Cook Time4

Total Time4 20

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Servings:

Author: Sarah Rossi

Ingredients

3 tbsp Olive oil
1.2 kg Beef shin Cut into 5cm chunks
2 Onions Finely diced
3 Carrots Peeled and finely diced
4 Garlic cloves Peeled and crushed
2 Rosemary sprigs Leaves removed and chopped
4 tbsp Tomato puree
250 ml Red wine
1 Bay leaf
800 g Chopped tomatoes
500 ml Hot beef stock
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Metric - Imperial

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 160℃/320F.
Heat 1 tbsp of the olive oil in a large casserole dish over a medium high heat and brown the beef for 4-5 minutes on each side. (Don’t be afraid to get some really good colour on it. You may need to do this in batches.) When brown take it out of the pan at pop it on a plate.
Add the rest of the oil to the pan and fry the onions, carrots and celery, with a pinch of salt, for 10 minutes then add the garlic and rosemary. Cook for 5 minutes more, until the veg has softened.
Add in the tomato puree and stir through for a few minutes.
Pour in the wine and leave to bubble for a few minutes.
Add the bay leaf, tins of tomatoes and stock, along with a good pinch of salt and pepper, and add the browned beef back in.
Bring everything to a boil then pop the lid on and place in the oven for 3 ½ hours, taking the lid off for the last half an hour until the sauce is rich and the meat is falling apart
Use a spoon and a fork to break the meat up then stir it back through, check the seasoning, then serve.

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Notes

Beef: Shin is the best cut of beef for ragu. It’s absolutely delicious and falls apart beautifully when cooked low and slow, but it can be a little tricky to find in the supermarket. Your local butcher will likely always have some, but if you’d like to switch it for something a little easier to get hold of, you can use diced braising steak and it will still be delicious!

Vegetable mix: If you want to skip a little of the prep, use a frozen soffritto mix to replace the onions, carrots and celery. You will need about 500g of the mix (sometimes this is called ‘vegetable base mix’ or something similar in some supermarkets.)

Red wine: If you’d rather not use wine, you can replace it with 250g beef stock and add 2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar to add a little depth of flavour.

Leftovers/batch cooking/freezing: You can keep this in the fridge for 3 days. Reheat fully in the microwave or on the hob before serving. Add a splash of water if it needs it. If you’re batch cooking, just wait until it’s totally cold and then portion it into freezer-proof containers and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost thoroughly before reheating.

Serving suggestion: I always love Beef Ragu with pappardelle, as the big flat pieces of pasta help hold more sauce, but you can serve it with any pasta if you like. This would also be delicious with potatoes or with rice, if you want to mix things up a bit.

Nutrition