When we were in Italy (just a couple of weeks ago!), we dedicated a large part of our trip to consuming great amounts of pasta. Fresh homemade pasta was by far our favorite. We became big fans of the Tuscan specialty, Pappardelle al Cinghiale, wild boar braised in red wine and tomatoes served with wide, flat egg noodles.
Here is my US-grocery-store-friendly version... I made if for Mike's Birthday Party Dinner with our friends last weekend. It is definitely a warm-you-to-the-bones great winter dinner. Oh, and if you don't want to make homemade pasta, you can find some great authentic alternatives at most grocery stores - even fettucine will work, but for a special occasion, I recommend the real thing.
1 pound of homemade Pappardelle (recipe below)
1 pound of beef chuck roast
1 - 14 oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 - 14 oz can of whole peeled tomatoes
6 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup of red wine
1 teaspoon of sea salt
1 teaspoon of sugar
2 tablespoons of fresh basil
parmesan cheese for serving
For the sauce, place the chuck roast in a dutch oven (I like to use a Staub) or covered oven and stove safe dish. Pour in the can of crushed tomatoes, hand-squeeze-crush the whole tomatoes onto the beef (I like the rustic texture of hand-squeezed), and add garlic, wine, salt & sugar. Put it in oven at 250 degrees for 5-8 hours. The beef is done when it pulls apart easily and is fork tender.
Remove from the oven and let it slightly cool. Remove the roast from the pot (keep the tomato and wine sauce in the pot for later!) and remove all of the large chunks of fat remaining and separate it from the beef. Discard the fat. Shred the beef back into the tomato and wine sauce.
Place the pot on the stove and simmer the sauce until the desired thickness is desired. If the sauce is too thick, you can add beef broth, crushed tomatoes or water to thin. Keep it covered and on low until you are ready to serve.
Cook the fresh pasta in a large pot of salted, boiling water for just 1-2 minutes... the pasta will float when it is ready. Remove it from the water with tongs and place it immediately into the beef ragu. Toss to coat and add parmesan cheese and fresh basil just before serving.
Homemade pasta :
The pasta dough before boiling. |
1 1/2 cups of flour
2 eggs
Start with a KitchenAid mixer fitted with the dough hook. Dump in the flour, then top with the eggs. Put the mixer on medium and let the ingredients roll together until they form a ball.
*You may need to add a little bit (1-3 tablespoons?) of water or flour if the dough is too wet or too dry. After a ball is formed, let the dough 'knead' on low-medium in the mixer for 5-7 minutes until the dough is elastic. Cover it with plastic wrap and let it sit for 20 minutes.
When it is finished kneading, turn the dough out onto a floured board and kneed it by hand a couple of times.
From this stage, you can roll it out by hand with a rolling pin (or bottle of wine!), or put it through a pasta rolling machine. Either way is pretty simple. I've recently invested in this pasta machine that was very inexpensive. If you plan to make a lot of pasta in the future it can make things a little easier.
By Hand : Roll the dough, flipping it, folding it and rolling it until it is about 1/8 of an inch thick. Cut it into 1" pieces with a knife, or a pizza wheel. After cutting, you can cook it immediately, or let it dry on a baking sheet sprinkled with flour too keep the dough from sticking.
With Pasta Machine : Separate the dough into 6 pieces. Flour the machine and dough well to keep it from sticking. Feed it through the rolling/flattening part of the machine starting on the largest setting and progressing to a smaller setting each time you feed the dough through. I find that flouring it each time helps to keep it from sticking. After it has gone through the smallest (or 2nd to the smallest) setting, lay it flat and cut it into 1" strips with a knife, or a pizza wheel. After cutting, you can cook it immediately, or let it dry on a baking sheet sprinkled with flour too keep the dough from sticking.

Menu :
Thanks Jenny for this terrific recipe. We're a small grass-fed beef operation in California and we're always looking for new recipe tips for our customers.
ReplyDeleteWe'll definitely be directing people to your site.
This homemade pappardelle sounds absolutely lovely and the sauce is even more wonderful! You've set my Italian food-loving heart on fire!
ReplyDeleteHi Jenny! I read foodgawker daily and was drooling over your Beef Ragu when I realized that the recipe came from your blog. Love it! Also, congrats to you and Mike on your recent wedding! You looked beautiful :)
ReplyDeleteNoelle Bower
Wow, not only does this look gorgeous but it really just sounds fabulous. Homemade pasta is definitely the way to go. Beautiful photos as well :)!
ReplyDeleteThere is just something about pappardelle and beef...any time I see them together, I start drooling.
ReplyDeleteThis looks delicious! I plan on making this on Sunday for dinner, but just wondering - how many people does it feed? Thanks for the wonderful looking recipe!
ReplyDeleteI remembered I also wanted to ask about the cooking time for the beef ragu - for the 5-8 hours, is it just done when it looks/tastes/smells a certain way? Thanks!!
ReplyDeleteWow, Jenny, this recipe looks awesome -- I just had an amazing version of this dish at a great Italian restaurant and was dying to re-create it. I love your blog and was so happy to find it here. Thanks, I can't wait to try it!
ReplyDeleteI have the same questions as above: how much this makes, how to be sure it's done, and also what size of cans of tomatoes you used. I'm hoping to make it tomorrow--thanks for your help. It looks delish!
ReplyDeleteAmy - I use the smaller 14.5 oz cans of tomatoes, but you can easily use the larger cans of tomatoes to stretch the sauce further. Really, either size would work! This recipe is impossible to mess up. As far as when the beef is 'done,' it should be ready when the meat falls apart and is fork tender. Hope this helps!
ReplyDeleteI've added these notes above, too!
Good luck!
Jenny
Just browsing for recipes using Kitchenaid pasta roller. That's a great looking pappardelle.
ReplyDeleteCan the Ragu be done in a crock pot? It looks really good, but I work outside the home so I was wondering if you ever do it in a crock pot.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Carolyn
Carolyn - yes! Would be great in the crockpot.
ReplyDeleteI found your blog over the weekend and have enjoyed reading through your recipes and ideas on entertaining. I made this dish and it was delicious. Thanks so much for sharing!
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This sounds delicious and similar to my slow cooker recipe that I made this week!
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