Beef Ragu with Pappardelle

This early spring weather is so erratic. With the hail, rain, wind, and (occasional) sun, it's getting pretty hard to keep up. The herb garden Matt and I planted this weekend doesn't know what's going on! (The tomato plants are suffering a little. Might have been a bit optimistic to try and get the tomatoes going in September)


This morning started with a downpour. One of those days you wish you didn't need to leave the house. I felt like one more slow stew to see winter out.  With a rare afternoon off, it was a perfect day to spend an afternoon in the kitchen, stewing and pasta making.


I made a reasonably traditional Italian beef ragu with carrots, onion, no celery, (what was left in the fridge looked pretty dodgy), red wine, anchovies and chilli, and knocked up some fresh pasta to go with. 


It's our shop day tomorrow, so I didn't have any mushrooms. But believe me, they would be fantastic in this! Also, if you're like me and not into anchovies, please don't leave them out. I promise, you won't taste them, but they make the ragu so deliciously rich, and add a depth of flavour.




Beef Ragu with Pappardelle
1kg gravy beef (or other stewing meat - lamb shanks or shoulder would do nicely)
1 carrot, finely shopped
2 onions (an extra onion to make up for the lack of celery), finely chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, finely crushed
1 T flour
4 T tomato paste
4 anchovy fillets, chopped roughly
1 can of tomatoes (I just threw in a can of whole italian plum tomatoes. They break down in the stewing process)
2c red wine (the last of my dirty box of wine, which is reserved solely for cooking)
2c water
2 sprigs of fresh thyme (or 1T dried)
2 bay leaves
1T dried oregano
A couple of good pinches of chili flakes (I used a full teaspoon in total)
Salt and pepper to taste


Start by searing off the beef in small batches in a casserole dish in a little olive oil. it's important to do this in batches, and not to overcrowd the pot. You want to get them nicely caramelised, and if there's too many pieces in the pan you'll just end up steaming them. Top up the oil when needed, but you don't need to use much.Once each piece of beef is done pop it on a plate until the rest are done.


Once the beef is done, sautee the onions, carrot and garlic over a medium-high heat until they are soft. Add the flour and tomato paste, and cook out for at least a couple of minutes. Then add the canned tomatoes, anchovies, wine, water, thyme, oregano, bay leaves, chili. Don't add any salt yet. I do this at the end once the ragu has reduced. Cover, and stew over a low heat for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Uncover, and stew for a further hour, checking to make sure it's not reducing too fast. When it looks good, pop the lid back on and turn off the heat.


In the last half hour of stewing, bring a pot of salted water to the boil, and cook your pasta to the directions on the packet.


Check the ragu for seasoning, dish out your pasta and ragu, top with parsley and Parmesan (we didn't have any in the fridge - shopping day tomorrow! It was just as good without though).