Slow-cooked Beef Ragu

An economical but delicious meal made with simple ingredients. Just 10 minutes of prep, then let the stove do the rest. After 2½ hours of hands-off cooking, you’re left with fork-tender beef in a rich tomato sauce that is absolute heaven when paired with chunky pasta like rigatoni.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 brown onions, finely diced
• 2 large carrots, finely diced
• 2 celery stalks, finely diced
• 2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 1 kg beef chuck (braising/casserole) steak, cut into roughly 2 cm cubes
• 125 ml dry red wine
• 125 g tomato paste
• 700 ml tomato passata
• 500 ml beef stock
• 1 tsp sea salt flakes
• ½ tsp freshly cracked black pepper
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• Pasta, to serve (rigatoni pictured)
• Freshly grated parmesan, to serve

Method

1. Heat the olive oil in a deep heavy-based pan with a lid over medium–high heat.

2. Add the onion, carrot, celery and garlic. Cook, stirring, for 3–5 minutes until softened.

3. Turn the heat to high, add the beef chuck steak and cook, stirring, for 2–3 minutes until the meat is sealed all over.

4. Add the red wine, tomato paste, passata, beef stock, salt, pepper, thyme and bay leaves. Stir to combine and bring to a gentle simmer.

5. Cover, reduce the heat to the lowest setting, and cook for 2½ hours or until the beef is tender enough to be easily shredded with two forks.

6. Shred the beef with two forks and serve with your favourite pasta and some grated parmesan.

Tips

• If the beef is still tough after 2½ hours, continue cooking in 30-minute intervals. Chuck steak is almost impossible to overcook – the longer it cooks, the more it will soften.
• Substitute the red wine with more beef stock if preferred.
• Any slow-cook cut of beef is suitable. Oyster blade (flat iron/butler’s) steak is a good substitute.
• Refrigerate the ragu for up to 3 days and freeze for up to 3 months.
• Serve with a drizzle of chilli oil for extra spice.