Last week Carlo stated that he was done with the oven, and was only going to be using the grill for the rest of the summer as a way to beat the heat. He has done a good job grilling outside more, but I just can’t seem to stop using the oven. Even though temperatures in Vegas have been in the high 90s and low 100s, I’m still in the mood to braise. There is something very satisfying to me about putting a bunch of disparate ingredients into a big pot and with a couple of hours of cooking and a little love, you get this incredible new product that is greater than the sum of its parts. I’m sure there must be some twisted Freudian way to interpret my braising addiction, but nothing suggests comfort food to me more than a braised dish. And considering the uncertainty in our life, it is no wonder why I keep on finding new recipes to braise despite the mercury slowly rising.
I remember seeing a photo of Beef Rib and Sausage Ragu with Whole Grain Spaghetti on the front cover of the May 2009 issue of Bon Appetit
I’ve posted about my standard spaghetti recipe before, Jamie Oliver’s Spaghetti Bolognaise, but I have to say without a doubt that this is my new favourite meat sauce. It is decadently rich and meaty, but because you don’t need too much of the sauce, it somehow works, even on a hot summer’s night.
Be forewarned: the recipe takes a few hours to make between prep work, browning, and then of course, the magical braising process, but it is WELL worth the effort. I made the full amount which serves 12 people, even though I was only cooking for the two of us. We ate the ragu for dinner and then had some leftovers the next day. I put the rest into smaller containers and placed them in the freezer, so I can whip one out for a lunch or dinner on the fly, or use it as a pizza topping. Obviously, I’m a firm believer that you should only braise if you make enough food to enjoy on multiple occasions. If you make the ragu on a Sunday afternoon, you will not only have dinner for that night, but should be able to have a couple of other meals set for the week.
This recipe for Beef Rib and Sausage Ragu with Whole Grain Spaghetti makes 12 decadent servings at $1.93 each.
The ragu recipe calls for beef shanks, but Whole Foods was sold out of beef shanks, which they normally sell for $2.99 a pound. The butcher suggested that I use short ribs, but those were $6.59 a pound, so I decided to find a cheaper solution. I ended up buying some great looking beef ribs at Von’s for $1.99 a pound. The lady at the checkout raved about how good they were, and how she stocked up on them throughout the year when they went on sale, so she could have a freezer full ready for her summer bbqs. This lady looked like she would make great ribs, so I knew we had found a winning substitution.
Brown the sausage meat in a large pan and break up the sausage with the back of your cooking spoon. Remove and place the beef ribs in the pan and brown on all sides. Once they are done, place them with the cooked sausage, and saute the diced onions in the sausage and beef fat. I also threw in a couple of diced carrots and celery stalks to up the veggie quotient in the recipe.
Return the meat to the pan and add a bottle of red wine, 2 large cans of diced tomatoes, garlic, and spices and bring to a simmer. Here is what the ragu looks like after it has simmered for a few minutes and is ready for the oven:
Cover the ragu and place in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees. Braise the sauce until the beef ribs are tender, around 2 1/2 hours. After the braising magic:
Remove the beef ribs from the ragu and take all of the meat off the bone. After braising for so long in the tomatoes and wine, this is a pretty easy task because the meat just falls off the bone. Shred the meat and return to the stove top and reduce the sauce for around 10 minutes or so until the ragu is nice and thick like this:
Boil some whole wheat spaghetti and top with the ragu and some freshly grated Parmesan cheese, and then get transported to braising heaven!
