Cook’s notes

What is ragu?

In Italian cooking, ragu is a meat-based sauce. Traditionally, cooked pasta is tossed in the ragu, the noodles soak the flavors of the sauce, and the combination is served as a single dish.

There is no universal recipe for ragu. In the northern regions of Italy, minced meat is used while chunks are preferred in the south.

Tips for cooking ragu

If you want to make ragu, decide first whether to use ground meat or meat chunks. It doesn’t have to be beef. Any meat can be cooked into a ragu. You may even use sausage meat.

We’ve almost always used a combination of coarsely ground beef and sausage meat in the past. Then, we discovered how much richer in texture ragu is when chunks of stewing beef are used instead, and that’s what is used in this recipe.

What is Mornay sauce?

It’s Béchamel sauce plus cheese.

Baked macaroni and beef ragu with Mornay sauce

Prep: 30

Cook: 6 30

Total: 7

Servings: 6 people

Course: Main Course, Snack

Cuisine: Fusion

Label: Macaroni

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Equipment

Slow cooker

Ingredients

Ragu

1 kilogram stewing beef (2.2 pounds) cut into one-inch cubes
salt
pepper
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
6 cloves garlic peeled and chopped
2 sprigs oregano leaves only
2 bell peppers chopped
2 bay leaves
2 cups diced tomatoes canned is fine
1 tablespoon sugar
1½ cups red wine

Pasta

200 grams macaroni (7 oz)
½ teaspoon salt

Mornay sauce

2 cups Béchamel sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella
¼ cup grated Pecorino

Instructions

Cook the ragu

Pat the beef dry with paper towels then toss with a tablespoon of salt and half a teaspoon of ground black pepper.
Heat the olive oil in a wide pan.
Spread the beef cubes in the hot oil and, over high heat, leave to allow the undersides to brown for a minute or so. Stir the beef and continue cooking, tossing them around in the hot oil occasionally, until all sides are lightly browned.
Turn down the heat to medium, and add the onion, garlic, bell pepper, bay leaves, oregano, a tablespooon of salt and a quarter teaspoon of pepper. Cook, stirring, until the vegetables soften.
Pour in the diced tomatoes, stir in the sugar, and bring to a simmer.
Add the red wine, stir and allow to boil gently for about ten minutes.
Taste and adjust the seasonings, if needed.
Transfer the meat, sauce and vegetables to the slow cooker.
Set the slow cooker to LOW and cook the ragu for five hours.

Cook the macaroni

Preheat the oven to 400F.
Cook the macaroni in boiling water with the salt.
When the noodles a just a bit undercooked, drain and return to the pan.
Take half of the ragu (reserve the other half for another time) and stir into the pasta. Transfer the pasta and meat sauce to a baking dish.