Slow Cooked Wholesome Ragu Recipe
This ragu recipe is soooo easy and delicious - It makes a really big batch that can easily serve 6 people or be put away to eat over a few days. I made this specific recipe with beef chuck steak, but you can substitute this for lamb shoulder to make a lamb ragu and it works perfectly (I actually prefer it with lamb but couldn’t get any this day). I served it with homemade foccacia, which I have a recipe for on Instagram (@zenith.retreats) and a rocket, pear and parmesan salad.
Ingredients:
4 x carrots
2 x stalks of celery
roughly 1 cup cherry tomatoes
1 x onion
3 x cloves of garlic
800g beef chuck steak
700g tomato passata
500mL natural beef stock or bone broth
1/4 cup red wine
4 x bay leaves
small handful of fresh basil
1 x sprig rosemary
300g pappardelle (can substitute for any pasta you prefer)
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius.
Prepare your veggies by chopping the carrot, celery, onion, and garlic finely and set aside.
Heat an oiled pan to medium-high heat and sear the steak for approximately 2 minutes on each side or until it has some colour on it. Remove the steak from the pan and place it into a large oven-safe pot, or a dutch oven if you have one.
Using the same pan just used to slightly sear the steak, cook the veggies you chopped earlier on a medium heat, starting with the garlic and onions. Once the onions are slightly translucent, add the carrot and celery and keep cooking, stirring frequently.
Once the veggies have been cooking for around 4-5 minutes, add the tomato passata, beef stock and red wine. Stir everything to combine and turn the heat up slightly so that the sauce is at a slight boil. Continue cooking for another 4-5 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add the bay leaves, basil and rosemary, as well as the cherry tomatoes. I cut my tomatoes into halves before adding them, but it also works fine if you leave them whole. Continue cooking the sauce on a medium-high heat for another 5 minutes.
Pour the sauce over the steak, into the oven-safe pot or dutch oven. Place this into the oven and leave to cook for around 4 hours. You can make the heat slightly higher (around 160 degrees) and cook for less time if necessary, but the meat will not fall apart as easily if it is cooked too quickly.
After 4 hours, take the pot out of the oven. Remove the steak and place it into a seperate bowl. Use two forks to shred it, placing it back into the sauce as you go. It should fall apart very easily here. Once all the meat is shredded and added back into the sauce, add the parmesan cheese and stir everything to combine.
Cook your pasta as per the packet instructions. Once the pasta is cooked, serve the ragu sauce over the top and add more parmesan or basil if you prefer. If you are saving some for another day, keep the pasta and the sauce seperate.
