Italy: Pappardelle with Beef Ragu
Every once in a rare while, I find myself with that perfect balance of a large amount of time I can be in the house and a craving for a saucy, meaty pasta with a nice deep red wine for dinner. A truly indulgent dish with its velvety comfort and balance, perfect to celebrate this special occasion.
In times like these - or when there is a very delicious bottle of red to inspire me - I turn to a slow-cooked beef ragu and a batch of fresh pappardelle pasta. Below is how I get around to making the meal happen.
1kg beef, cut into cubes
Smoked pancetta
Olive oil
2 onions
3 carrots
Celery, finely chopped
1 Fennel
Bunch of garlic (5 cloves?)
Tomato purée (2-3 Tbl spoons)
Dry red wine (300 ml)
Fresh Rosemary/Thyme/ Bay leaves: tied together (bouquet garni)
Basil and oregano - dried flakes or if fresh oregano then add to bouquet garni
2 cans chopped tomatoes
Beef stock (100ml, but concentrated)
Parmigiano
Step 1: Cube things up!
Cube up the fennel, carrots, celery and onions, and dice up your garlic
Step 2: Fry the beef
Cut meat in pieces, toss them in flour and fry them up on olive oil.
Step 3 - Fry the veggies
Then remove the meat from the pot and set aside
Throw in your smoked pancetta
Once the pancetta is starting to get a bit fried, also start to add and fry the carrots, soon followed by your other diced vegetables.
Continue to stir and fry until they have softened and the onions become translucent.
Add your tomato purée in. Then also add the tomatoes, herbs, and the liquids - your red wine and beef stock. Stir in some pepper and salt.
Bring the whole thing to a boil and only then add the meat you’ve previously set aside back in. Bring the whole thing up to a boil once again.
Step 4 - Assemble your sauce
Once back at a boil with the meat, reduce the heat to a light simmer and cook, covered, for 2.5 hours. I sometimes find I need to leave the lid slightly ajar due to the moisture build up.
I also generally tend to peek in and stir the ragu every so often, to see how it’s coming along and make sure nothing is burning at the bottom. I think I would not be going too far as to say that I have a high level of anxiety about the burny taste in a bolognese or a ragu after so many hours spent on it.
At around 2.5 hour mark, I also start to use this peeking to test the meat tenderness and see how the proteins are breaking down (this is why the meat starts to fall apart).
Step 5 - The moment of truth when the meat falls apart
If by 2.5 hours the meat is still pretty hard and/or you see lots of residual moisture - you can bring temperature up slightly, but make sure not to bring it up too high. Keep stirring. This will not only make sure the bottom doesn’t burn but will also help you evaporate a lot of that access moisture you don’t want.
At this junction, you can also remove the bouquet Garni. All of the flavors would have moved into the sauce by now anyway.
At around 3 hour mark, the meat should be falling apart. however, in this case I do find that it’s more an art than a science. I also find that the meat falls apart right after you panic about it taking too long to do so and start thinking you’ve screwed something up, somewhere along the way.
I use either a fork or even a masher to break up the cubes, and I select my weapon of choice depending on how the meat is behaving when it is ready to cooperate. This should get you that nice saucy-esc look and feel.
Once you are happy with your ragu consistency, you can stir in some fresh Basil. You can also add parmigiana cheese here, to taste.
Step 6: Serving!
One great thing about ragu is that you can make this in advance.
For this recipe I cooked up some fresh pappardelle pasta and added the ragu in with he pasta to the pan to unify the temperatures.
enjoy!
I like to combine this recipe with a nice, full bodied red from Italy. Something like a Barolo or even an Amazon or a Brunello di Montalcino.
Don’t forget to throw on a bunch of freshly grated parmigiano on top and dig in!