The Starving Can Wait - Beef Ragu with Rigatoni

This is how much I devoted to this dish.

I set my alarm clock at 8:45 a.m. this morning,
Just so that my beef ragu will be ready before lunch hour ends,
Did the alarm clock work? Well...the snooze button was pressed a couple of times..

Throwing the annoying alarm clock outside the window,
I still managed to munch on this dish by 2 p.m., 
End result? The wait was definitely worth it!

Ingredients (for 5 to 6 people)?

2 lbs of rump roast (beef round)
3 ribs of celery
2 medium carrots
3 plum tomatoes
1 onion
4 garlic cloves

1 sprig of oregano
2 sprigs of rosemary
4 sprigs of thyme

2/3 cup of red wine (use the one you enjoy drinking)
2/3 cup of beef stock

1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
Some sea salt
Some freshly ground black pepper
Some olive oil

1 box/1 lb/454 grams of rigatoni
1 1/2 cup of Parmigiano Reggiano (plus extra for serving)

How?

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
Cut the beef into large bite pieces, season with salt and pepper,
Roughly chop the vegetables, including peeled garlic cloves and tomatoes.

Drizzle some olive oil to the Dutch oven till slightly cover the entire surface,
If you don't have one, no worries,
You can simply switch the ingredients into an oven-safe container for roasting.

Turn to medium high heat,
Toss in the beef chunks and sear all sides till slightly browned,
Once that's done, transfer the meat to a big bowl,
We'll put them back to the pot in a little bit.

Still using the same pot,
Toss in chopped onions and season with some salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes,
The amount of red pepper flakes is totally up to you (I used a lot!),
You can also drizzle some more oil if the mixture appears too dry.
Cook till the onion turned slightly translucent,
Add the garlic and keep cooking for about 30 seconds.

Add chopped celeries and carrots into the mixture,
Season with more salt and pepper, cook till the vegetables turn soft, about 5 minutes.

It's time to add the wine, beef stock, and tomatoes (including the juice),
Gently stir the mixture so that all the ingredients are covered with the liquid,
Put the herbs on top,
Cover the pot with a lid, into the oven for 3.5 hours.
(Almost fainted while waiting for my meal, especially when the aroma of wine and rosemary kept attacking my nose!).

*No peeking during roasting!

Finally, after long hours of roasting,
Take out the pot and just let it rest for about 10 minutes,
In the meantime, let's start preparing our pasta of the day - rigatoni.

Bring a big pot of water to a boil, add some salt to the water then toss in the pasta,
Cook according to package instruction,
Once done, drain the water and transfer to a big serving dish.

Back to my lovely beef ragu, right after I  remove the lid -

The beef still remains chunky,
However, the meat can easily fall apart with the help of two forks,
Again, it's totally up to you whether or not you want it chunky or flaky.

Taste the ragu and see if more salts are needed,
But don't add too much since we gonna mix in some Parmigiano Reggiano.

Carefully scoop or pour the ragu onto the pasta,
Grate at least 1 1/2 cups of Parmigiano Reggiano and pour the cheese all over the pasta,
Mix well,
Now you can taste it again and see if additional salts are necessary.

I even sprinkled more cheese on my individual serving,
The more the merrier! And look at that cheese oozing on top of my ragu!

One hearty meal,
I bet beef ragu is also good with regular white rice or brown rice,
Maybe that's what I'll have tomorrow,
At least this time I don't have to wait another 4 hours!

Cindy's Rating: 7