Slow-cooker beef ragù with pappardelle
530 min · 52 g protein · 586 cals / serving
Half an hour at the stove in the morning, eight hours in the slow cooker, and beef shin falls into soft shreds in a rich, glossy ragù of tomatoes, red wine, soffritto and mushrooms. Tossed with wide ribbons of pappardelle, it is a Sunday dinner on a Tuesday, and the ragù freezes beautifully.
Ingredients
Ragù
- 2 1/4 lb beef shank, boneless beef shin (shank), trimmed, in 4 pieces; weighed raw (about 700 g once braised)
- 1 1/2 tsp salt, divided
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion, finely diced
- 1 large carrot, finely diced
- 2 stalks celery, finely diced
- 14 oz crimini mushroom, finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 cup red wine, full-bodied, or beef broth
- 1 can (28 oz) canned crushed tomatoes
- 1/2 cup beef broth
- 3/4 tsp dried thyme
- 3 bay leaf
To serve
- 12 1/2 oz egg noodles, dried pappardelle (egg pasta)
- 1/4 cup water, pasta cooking water
- a handful fresh parsley, chopped
Steps
- Pat the beef dry and season with 1 teaspoon of the salt and the pepper (the rest goes in at step 4). Heat the oil in a large frying pan over high heat and brown the beef well on all sides, 6–8 minutes, then move it to the slow cooker.
- Lower the heat to medium, add the onion, carrot, celery and mushrooms to the pan and cook 10–12 minutes, stirring, until soft and the mushrooms' liquid has gone. Stir in the garlic and tomato paste for 1 minute.
- Pour in the wine and let it bubble 3 minutes, scraping up the browned bits, then tip everything into the slow cooker with the tomatoes, broth, thyme and bay leaves. Cover and cook on low 8 hours (or high 5 hours), until the beef shreds with a fork.
- Lift out the bay leaves, shred the beef in the pot with two forks and stir it through the sauce. If it is thin, leave the lid off on high for 15 minutes to reduce. Stir in the rest of the salt, then taste.
- Cook the pappardelle in well-salted boiling water until just tender, keep 1/4 cup of the water, drain, and toss the pasta with as much ragù as you like and the pasta water until glossy. Scatter with parsley, and a little grated parmesan if you eat dairy (the dish is dairy-free without it).
Good to know
How do I keep it for lunches?
Store the ragù and the pasta apart: the ragù keeps 4 days in the fridge and freezes for 3 months, the cooked pasta 3 days in the fridge (toss it with a few drops of oil). Reheat the ragù until piping hot and fold in the pasta, or cook fresh pasta for each meal.
No slow cooker?
Use a lidded casserole: bring everything to a simmer, then cook in the oven at 325°F for 3 hours, until the beef shreds.
Can I use chuck?
Yes, chuck is RecipeTin's cut and gives a richer sauce; it carries much more fat than shin, at about 52 instead of 65. Trim what you can see before you sear it.
Per
- Calories
- 96
- Protein
- (37%)
- 9 g
- Fat
- (21%)
- 2 g
- Carbohydrates
- (42%)
- 10 g
- of which sugar
- 2 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 158 mg
About 5% of the alcohol remains after cooking; the label counts only that.
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 3517 kcal goes into the pot and 3171 g of ingredients comes out as about 3680 g of food: 96 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.