For dinner tonight we wanted something “with beef and past” but something that wasn’t a spag bol. Ages ago I attempted a ragu with the aim of making it a deep, rich dish. Unfortunately I went completely overboard, reduced down a whole bottle of red wine in the sauce and it was nearly inedible so I had a little re-think and came up with the following. This one was really nice but we both felt that it needed some more vegetables so next time I’ll probably add in some mange tout or similar.
Prep time 10 minutes
Cooking time 30 minutes
Serves 5
Ingredients
700g lean diced beef
Two small red onions (or one large one)
4 cloves of Garlic
4 TBSP plain flour
Dried Origano
Dried Rosmary
Pasata
Salt, Pepper.
(not pictured) Worchester sauce
(not pictured) Lidl Vegetable stock cube
First add the flour, 1 tbsp of salt, 20 grinds of pepper, 1 tbsp dried origano and one 1 tbsp dried rosemary in a large bowl and give it a good mix together.
Put the diced beef into the flour mix and either using your hands or spoon , mix it all together until each piece of beef is nicely coated.
Now thinly slice the red onion and then peel, crush and finely chop the garlic and set all aside.
Put a large pan on a medium heat and add a little vegetable oil. When the oil is hot, add the beef to the pan. It’s best to do this in batches to avoid overloading the pan. This will help to get a good colour to your beef as the meat will fry rather than boil.
When the beef is nicely browned all over, remove it from the pan and put on a plate. Fry the next batch, adding a little more oil if needed and again remove when browned.
After all the beef has been browned (not cooked through), keep the pan on the heat and add 5 tsp of worchester sauce to Degas the pan. Again you may need to add a little more oil here.
Add the onions and garlic and fry until softened, being careful not to burn the garlic. When the onions have started to turn translucent put the beef back in to the pan. Pour on the pasata and let it cook for a couple of minutes whilst stirring
Top up the pan with boiling water and add the vegetable stock cube.
bring to a gentle simmer and let reduce down by about a third.
This is a good time to put your wholewheat pasta on as it takes about 15-20 minutes to cook your sauce should be ready when the pasta is done.
All that’s left to do now after you’ve cooked and drained your pasta is put it in a bowl and eat!
Leave a Reply