Slow-cooked pepper beef ragù
Few sights lift the spirit quite like a big pot of slowly cooked ragù. This is the sort of pasta dish
you want to crowd around and eat on a cold winter’s night. It has a lot of things going for it –
its total independence blipping and puttering away slowly in the oven, a salty and rich beefy
avour that you expect from a ragù, and the fact that it pairs perfectly with homemade silky
sheets of pasta. If you £nd that after the cooking time your meat is not easily falling apart,
the¬fault is most likely your oven’s – not yours. It just means it needs longer, so cover and
throw it back in the oven for another 30 minutes or so.
Serves 6
1.2 kg stewing beef, such as
shin, brisket, chuck or blade,
cut into 3 cm chunks
10 garlic cloves, nely chopped
125 g (½ cup) tomato paste
2 rosemary sprigs
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground
blackpepper
6 anchovy llets, drained
250 ml (1 cup) red wine
375 ml (1 ½ cups) beef stock
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
grated Parmigiano Reggiano,
toserve
FRESH PASTA FOR 6
pappardelle, reginette
(mafaldine)
DRIED PASTA FOR 6
if you must, rigatoni
188
Preheat the oven to full whack (about 250°C fan-forced).
Place the beef in a casserole dish or a deep roasting tin. Add the
garlic, tomato paste, rosemary, salt, pepper and anchovy llets
and use your hands to rub the ingredients into the beef. Pour
over the red wine, beef stock and balsamic vinegar and cover
with baking paper (this reduces evaporation). Pop the lid on or
tightly seal with foil. Sealing the dish traps in the steam, which
results in incredibly tender meat.
Place the dish or tin in the oven and set the timer for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 160°C fanforced
and cook the beef for 3 ½–4 hours, or until the meat is
falling apart. Skim o the layer of fat that might have formed
on the surface, then, using two forks, shred the beef and mix
everything together. Discard any chunks of fat.
Bring a large saucepan of water to a lively boil and season as
salty as the sea. Add the pasta and cook until al dente.
Scoop out 250 ml (1 cup) of the pasta cooking water, then drain
the pasta and transfer to a large serving bowl. Add large scoops
of braised beef and give everything a good toss around, adding
125 ml (½ cup) of the cooking water if you need to loosen things
up. Stir again and add a little more cooking water if needed. Stir
through lots of Parmigiano Reggiano and serve with a little extra
sprinkled on top.