Ingredients
- 200g stewing steak, diced
- 200g beef mince
- 100g bacon lardons or pancetta
- 2 onions, finely diced
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 tbsp dried chilli flakes (or less if you don’t like the heat)
- 300ml red wine
- 3 tbsp water
- 1 heaped tsp cornflour
- 2 rich beef stockpots
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 250g tomato pasta sauce
- 250g tin of chopped tomatoes
- 400g rigatoni pasta
- Parmesan, to grate
- chopped parsley
I’m hoping this becomes a go-to recipe as it’s one I go to when I need a hug in a bowl. The magic moment involves cooking the pasta in the ragu sauce, allowing it to soak up all the goodness. And only one pot to clean afterwards!
- Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- In a large, heavy-based, flameproof casserole dish, brown off the diced beef, minced beef and bacon or pancetta over a high heat until it’s nice and golden brown. This will take a few minutes.
- Add the onions, garlic and chilli flakes and cook for a further minute until they start to break down and soften. Keep the heat high to add some colour.
- Add the wine and boil to reduce it by half.
- Blend the water and cornflour to a paste, then stir it into the meat with the stockpots, soy sauce, tomato sauce and tomatoes, and bring to the boil.
- Place a lid on the dish and cook in the oven for 1 hour until the stewing steak is tender to touch.
- Remove the dish from the oven carefully, as it will be very hot. Add the dried pasta, and place back in the oven for a further 20 minutes until the pasta is soft and has soaked up all the sauce.
- Serve the ragu in the pot, and finish with grated Parmesan and parsley.
