Description
Beef and red wine ragu with a glass of wine, on the couch in front of Netflix is my happy place after a long day at the store. It’s meaty, full of red wine & tomatoes, and is one of the most soul warming dishes around.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil (extra virgin)
- 2 onions, sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 kg chuck steak (cut in rough 3cm dice)
- 2 400g canned tomatoes
- 250 ml beef stock
- 250 ml red wine
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 sprigs of thyme
- Capunti pasta (or your favorite type of pasta), fresh basil leaves, and grated parmesan to serve
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 150°c/300°f.
- Brown the meat. In a large enamel Dutch oven, add a little oil to the base of the pot. Brown the chuck steak in batches in the Dutch oven. Remove and set aside.
- Cook the vegetables. Add the onion (and a little extra oil if needed) and cook gently until softened. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute, and stir through.
- Build the sauce. Add the beef stock, red wine, canned tomatoes, tomato paste, bay, and thyme. Give a good stir to release any browned bits stuck on the bottom of the pan from cooking the beef. Bring the ragu to a simmer over low-medium heat on top of the stove.
- Slow cook. Pop on the lid and cook in the oven for around 2.5 – 3 hours, until the beef is fall-apart tender.
- Remove from oven. Taste test and make sure that beef is falling apart, so you get shreds of it through the pasta.
- Serve with cooked al-dente pasta, a shaving of good parmesan, finely chopped basil leaves, and a glass of wine!
Notes
I like to serve my ragu on a bed of Capunti pasta and top with a good parmesan and freshly picked basil. I allow 100g of pasta per person.
Always reserve a little pasta water to add to the ragu sauce prior to adding the pasta.
Be sure to scrape down all those brown bits (aka fond) from both the side and bottom of the pot after browning the meat. Those are the good bits with tons of flavor. We want to keep it all in the pan to make the sauce rich and full of flavor.
Always leave the seasoning with salt and pepper til the end to get an accurate result. Otherwise, you can be left with over (or under) seasoned food – not ideal!
Please note all recipes on this website are in US measurements. Eg, 1 cup / 240ml, 1 tablespoon/15mls. Oven temperatures refer to a fan-forced oven.
This recipe was tested in a 24cm enamel cast iron Dutch oven.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 hours
- Category: Main Course
- Method: Slow Cooking
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 802
- Sugar: 17 g
- Sodium: 213.4 mg
- Fat: 17.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 99.6 g
- Protein: 58.6 g
- Cholesterol: 134.9 mg