These days we tend to just eat meat at the weekends and keep red meat to once or twice a month, so when we do have it we want to make it special. This very comforting Italian style ragu hits the right notes of being rich and meaty while still being well balanced.
It works well with any sort of braising meat and the traditional southern Italian way of doing it often includes large chunks of beef, pork and game meats. I won’t pretend this dish is completely authentic, but it is completely delicious!
Recipe
Approx. 6-8 servings. Active time 30 mins. Cook time 2-4 hours.
Ingredients
500g braising meat, diced (or equivalent of mince)
1 large onion, diced
1 large carrot, diced or grated
1 stalk of celery, diced
4-8 cloves of garlic, chopped
4-6 mushrooms, chopped (optional but a nice addition)
1 tin of chopped tomato (or equivalent of fresh chopped tomato or passatta. Avoid any with added sugar etc)
500ml stock (I used beef)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 glass of wine (optional – red is richer for a more full bodied sauce, white more traditional and gives it more zing, whichever you fancy, or neither!)
Plenty of herbs, fresh and/or dried. Basil is a classic here and highly recommended, but herbs like bay leaf, oregano, sage, tarragon, thyme, and parsley also work well.
A splash of Worcestershire sauce (optional)
A splash of whole milk
Salt and pepper
Method
Add a good glug of olive oil to a large pot over a medium high heat and brown the meat all over. This is best done in batches so there’s space in the pan to move then around and not stew in their juices. If the pan ever looks too dry add some more oil, though most meats will give off some fat themselves. Remove to a bowl when browned.
Reduce the heat to medium and add the onion, stirring it in the juices until it starts to soften then add the garlic, carrot, celery and mushroom if using. Cook these for a few minutes until the soften, reducing the heat if they’re browning quickly.
Add the tomato and wine if using and simmer down until starting to bubble and pop a bit. Add the stock, swilling out the tomato tin or jar to get every last drop of tomato goodness. Reduce the heat to low.
Add a good splash of Worcestershire sauce if using and a splash of milk and stir it round then add the herbs. I bundled up a few stalks each of thyme, sage, basil, parsley and tarragon, as well as a few bay leaves and a pinch or two of dried basil and oregano. I reserved some fresh basil and parsley to add at the end. Add a few good cracks of black pepper (I avoid using salt at this point as it’s better added near the end when it’s reduced).
Leave to simmer for 2-4 hours checking every hour or so, mince will require less time while tougher cuts, like the ox cheek I used, could take 4+ hours. If the dish starts looking a bit too thick and dry, add a splash of water and put a lid over it, lifting the lid for the last 20 mins or so to thicken again. You could also do this in a low oven (150°C or so), which I actually prefer as you’re less likely to get a burnt bottom!
Once the meat is falling apart tender it’s ready. Remove from the heat, taste and add salt if needed, fish out any herb stalks and stir through some fresh herb leaves, then let sit for 10 mins for the flavours to settle.
Spoon into a bowl with some grated parmesan and cracked black pepper over the top and enjoy with crusty bread and a side salad, or for an extra comforting dinner with a small portion of your favourite pasta and a glass of wine.
A bit of a blether
There you have it, a rich and comforting meal, perfect for a romantic night in or a big family gathering. You can easily double or triple the recipe if you’ve more mouths to feed (or just want to keep some in the freezer for when you need a pick me up) or cut it in half if it’s too much for you.
If you’ve only ever had the type of ragu that comes from a jar of premade bolognese sauce, you may be surprised to find the sauce is a deep dark red/brown rather than a bright red/orange. This is as it should be.
You can make it with any sort of braising meats like stewing steak, beef brisket, pork shoulder, chuck steak, lamb leg, venison leg, beef mince, pork niche, or any combination of them. Anything that likes to be cooked low and slow will work well here. In the recipe picture I’m using ox cheek, though often I would use a mix of beef and pork shoulder.
There is no need to add any sugar here as the sweet herbs like tarragon bring that to the dish, though if you like it in the sweeter side you could cook the onions a little longer at the start to really caramelise them.
You could make this veggie using a mix of fresh and dried mushrooms, but there will be other equivalent recipes in future for vegetables in tomato sauce and I’m always reluctant to treat vegetables as a simple meat replacement rather than making them the star themselves. So watch out for those instead!
Thanks for reading,
Matthew
A Sincere Love of Food 