One of the main lessons I bought home from my #Trueitalian journey with Cirio is that less is more. With great ingredients, you need less of them to make a great dish. All the pasta dishes I ate in Italy, had simpler sauces, made with fewer ingredients, and certainly far less seasoning, and far less was needed to serve the dish. The only thing that there was not less of was flavour, without exception everything I ate was bursting with intense flavour.
In my ragu I used Cirio tinned chopped tomatoes, whose growing grounds that I had seen in the fields of Maremma, Tuscany. You could eat these tomatoes straight from the can, they are thick, deep red, the flesh is firm and the flavour is sweet and intense. They certainly do not need any pastes or purées to enhance the flavour and for a longer cook will need some added water to dilute them.
I really recommend making a double, or triple batch of this and filling the freezer. For more inspiration on how to use leftover ragu have a read of this post of 5 things to do with leftover bolognese sauce.
Slow cooked beef ragu with tinned tomatoes
Ingredients
- Good glug olive oil
- 1 small onion – finely chopped
- 1 carrot – finely chopped
- 1 stick celery finely chopped
- 1 large clove garlic smashed
- 500 g top side of beef cubed
- 2 x 400g cans of Cirio Chopped tomatoes
Instructions
- In a heavy bottomed pan or casserole prepare a soffritto, by sautéing the onion, carrot, celery and garlic until they are soft and translucent. Add in the beef and fry until it is starting to brown.
- Add in the two cans of Cirio chopped tomatoes, rinse each can with a splash of water and add to the pot. Stir well and add a smidgen of seasoning. Reduce the heat right down (I stand my pot on a diffuser on the smallest gas ring on the lowest setting) and leave, with the lid slightly ajar for about 90 minutes to gently cook – you want it to barely simmer – stirring every 10 minutes or so – until the beef is tender and falling apart.
- I find that the ragu is best left to cool then refrigerated over night before eating. I freeze my ragu in individual portions in my silicon muffin pan.
- To serve quickly reheat a large spoon of ragu per person in a small pan whilst your pasta is cooking, if needed, add a little of the pasta water to loosen the sauce. I like to add a knob of butter – which is an indulgence and really not necessary. Once the pasta is cooked, drain and return to the pan, pour the ragu over, gently toss and serve immediately with a sprinkle of grated Parmesan, a twist of pepper and a sprig of fresh basil.
I travelled to Italy with Cirio to discover the #TrueItalian way of life and cuisine as part of a sponsored campaign. All opinions are my own.
Sarah, Maison Cupcake
Ooh nice, I love nothing better than a chunky meat sauce with pasta. Pappardelle all Cinghale in Florence was one of my all time favourite holiday dinners.
Franglais kitchen, Nazima
Such a veratile dish. We have stocks of this in the freezer at all times! love cirio too – you can really tell the difference when you then use other brands.
Helen
I am such a Cirio convert. Having seen where the tomatoes grow I feel very connected to the brand.
Mardi (eat. live. travel. write.)
Less is more indeed – this is a beautiful, simple dish, Helen. I could eat it for breakfast!
Helen
Thank you Mardi! It was lovely, my pasta attachment has just arrived so the next one will be with homemade pasta.
Helene @Croque-Maman
I just love beef ragu. You just made me want to have some!!! So much better when it is warmed up as well. And you’re right it is all about the ingredients! Thank you for the tips of using the silicon muffin pan. I have used a lot my silicon ice cube trays for baby weaning but for some reason did not think of using the muffin pan for bigger portions!
Helen
Thanks Helene. My mini muffin pan is the perfect size for egg whites!
Camilla @FabFood4All
Those Cirio tomatoes sound fab, I’ve obviously been missing out with the value ones I buy!
Helen
They are amazingly good Camilla. You need to stock up when they are on offer.
Katie Bryson
What a deliciously simple recipe Helen… I love your method of freezing portions in a silicon muffin tray… I’m definitely going to use that one! I love having separate portions of things in the freezer because it makes busy days so much less stressful if I know I can come home from work and reheat something nutritious for the boys. Will definitely be making this recipe for them.
Helen
I love freezing stuff in silicon trays as they just pop out once solid
Sally - My Custard Pie
That’s exactly what Georgia Locatelli says. “It’s easy to add things but I try to use the least ingredients” You really got into the Italian vibe here.
Helen
Thank you Sally. I would have added some wine, and that is exactly what they would do in Italy, but a) in the UK even though the alcohol boils off people seem not to use wine in dishes that they might give to children and b) I cut my finger really badly chopping the carrot so Ed had to finish making the dish and in all the drama we forgot the wine.
richard forget
I have tasted the most expensive San Marzano tomatoes for $6 a can. In my opinion these “grown in Italy” Cirio Pelati whole canned tomato are just s good, if not better but at 1/2 the price. Not certain, but this may be is a seasonal thing where some batches may be better than others. I really enjoy these as is and in sauces..