I love making ragu, it’s cheap and easy to make and you can just leave it in the pot to bubble away. Plus as long as you’ve got a few basic ingredients you can make it as simple or complex as you like.
This beef and roast vegetable ragu is easy to make, reduces meat intake and packs loads of veg. The roasted veg really brings a burst of flavour to a standard ragu. Also by dicing the vegetables up it creates a more kid friendly meal.
Serve with rigatoni or penne, which is so good at absorbing more robust pasta sauces.
Now everyone needs a great ragu recipe. I find mine continuously evolves and devolves depending on the time of year. This is the lastest incarnation. It’s easy to make, then you just leave it on the job to do the hard work.
Timings
- Prep time: 10 mins
- Cooking time: 45 mins
Ingredients
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 onion, chopped
- 4 rashers streaky bacon, cut up, or a small pack of lardons
- 500g beef mince
- A splash of red wine
- 1 batch Roasted Vegetables
- 3 tins of chopped tomatoes
- 1 tsp oregano
- Handful of basil, separate leaves and storks.
Method
- First prep all of the ingredients.
- Then heat a stockpot or large pan on a high heat.
- Once the pan is hot add the lardons/bacon and fry until they start to go golden.
- Then turn down the heat and add the onions, garlic and basil stalks.
- Stir through and once the onions start to go translucent add the mince, break up and mix through.
- When the mince has browned add the oregano and wine.
- Let the wine bubble for a couple of minutes, until the alcohol smell weakens. Then add the tomatoes.
- Bring the sauce to a simmer and then leave to bubble for around 45 minutes.
- Once it’s bubbling add the roast veg and stir through.
- Once it has reduced at the chopped basil leaves.
You can now serve or allow to cool and put it in the fridge until it’s ready. Roasted Vegetables