Neapolitan ragù, a perfect match for pasta
If you love a good beef stew and also adore Bolognese sauce… this is your recipe, since it brings the best of both worlds. With a sauce full of vegetables and spices, and melty beef, this dish will be your best ally with any pasta type. Dare yourself to discover this Neapolitan classic, you will love it.
Neapolitan Ragù
This delicious dish is different from the famous Bolognese since, instead of minced meat, we use diced beef steak (ox originally). It is a truly simple elaboration, where the most important point is to let the ragù cooking for a few hours to ensure a tender, easy to shred meat and a flavourful stew. We hope you like it!
Ingredients
- 400 g diced beef steak
- salt and pepper to taste
- olive oil
- 200 mL red wine of good quality
- 1 pepper Romano if possible
- 1 carrot
- 2 medium size onions or a big one
- 4 basil leaves
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 400 g chopped tomatoes (1 can)
- 1 sprig of thyme
- 500 mL beef stock or water
- 300 g pasta we used tobettone rigato
- water to cook the pasta
Instructions
- Salt the beef evenly.
- Triturate the pepper and carrot with a food processor or hand blender until you get very small pieces and save for step 4. We will triturate the onions later on.
- In a big tall pot at medium/high heat, add a tablespoon of olive oil and incorporate de beef and sauté stirring rapidly
- When there is some browning in the meat and a fond is formed at the bottom of the pot (we will deglaze very soon), remove the beef from the pot and reserve for later.Set the heat at medium level.
- Add the triturated pepper and carrot to the big pan, deglaze with a dash of red wine and mix very well.Add more oil if needed.
- Incorporate into the pan the basil leaves and let it cook for approximately 5 minutes.
- Now triturate very finely the garlic and onions (you can do it together at once).
- Add the onion and garlic to the pot.
- Now incorporate the rest of the wine and stir very well.
- Use the food processor/hand blender again now for the chopped tomatoes to get a very smooth, soup like consistency.
- Add the tomato into the pot and let it reduce for a couple of minutes, now at low heat.
- Add the sprig of thyme and beef stock (or water if you prefer it).
- Finally, incorporate the beef that we cooked earlier. Now it is a matter of letting all these ingredients cook together.
- We prepared it the day before to let it cook at low heat for 8 hours, but as long as the meat gets very tender and easy to shred it will be enough, so 2 hours should do.Whilst it is cooking, make sure there is enough liquid in the pot, otherwise add some water.When the consistency is ready (you can take a look at the picture below), add salt and pepper to taste.
- When it is time to eat, cook the pasta and save some of the cooking water (a quarter of cup/100 mL will be enough).We used tubettone rigato.
- Add the pasta to a pan with the ragù and stir.Finally, add the cooking water, mix very well and reduce moisture until the desired consistency is achieved.
- And that’s it! If you want you can grate some Parmesan cheese but it is delicious without it too.
Notes
- In a stew like this you can incorporate a Parmesan cheese rind after step 9 to add more flavour. It is a good way to make the most out of your cheese.