Jamie Oliver’s Stracotto: Beautiful Slow-cooked Beef Ragú
Comfort food at its finest, this authentic slow cooked ragú from Jamie Oliver's Channel 4 series, Jamie Cooks Italy, and can be incorporated into a pasta dish or served with greens as a main meal.
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Introduction
A Tuscan family favourite: think the emotion of Bolognese on the familiarity scale, but with a whole new level of comfort. It’s inspired by Nonna Miriam from Panzano, and this simple cooking process gives you what she calls a ‘rich plate’ – she likened it to the moment you know you’ve got a winning hand in poker. To serve, it’s traditional to enjoy the rich sauce with freshly cooked tagliatelle as a primo, serving the rest of the sauce with the meat as a secondo, teamed with steamed greens, oozy polenta, mash or whatever you fancy!
Ingredients
| 1kg | piece of beef chuck, sinew removed |
| olive oil | |
| 2 | red onions |
| 2 | carrots |
| 2 | cloves of garlic |
| 2 | sticks of celery |
| 1 | bulb of fennel |
| ½ a bunch (15g) | fresh rosemary |
| ½ a bunch (15g) | fresh sage |
| 250ml | Chianti red wine |
| 2 tbsp | tomato purée |
| 1.5 ltrs | quality meat or veg stock |
Method
Place the meat in a fairly snug-fitting casserole pan on a medium-low heat with 2 tablespoons of oil, turning with tongs, while you peel the onions, carrots and garlic, trim the celery and fennel, then roughly chop it all to make a soffritto – it cooks low and slow so there’s no need to be too precise. Stir into the pan, tie the rosemary and sage together and add, then season with sea salt and black pepper. Cook for 20 to 30 minutes, or until starting to caramelize, stirring the veg and turning the meat occasionally.
Turn the heat up to high, pour in the wine, stir in the tomato purée, and let the wine cook away. Pour in the stock, bring to the boil, then place a double layer of scrunched-up wet greaseproof paper on the surface. Reduce to a low heat and cook for around 3 hours, or until the meat is meltingly tender, turning and basting occasionally. Season to perfection.
Lift the meat out on to a board, carve it into thin slices, and spoon over enough of that incredible sauce to keep the meat nice and juicy. Toss the rest of the sauce (reduce on the hob, if needed) with freshly cooked tagliatelle, and finely grate over a little Parmesan, to serve. Double win.
CALORIES 360kcal FAT 20.6g SAT FAT 7.2g PROTEIN 30.6g CARBS 8g SUGAR 6.2g SALT 0.7g FIBRE 2.6g
Jamie Cooks Italy by Jamie Oliver is published by Penguin Random House © Jamie Oliver Enterprises Limited (2018 Jamie Cooks Italy), photography: David Loftus.
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