Shannon's Favourite Dish to Cook with the Kiritsuke - Beef Ragu
This is my favourite dish to cook up on those cold winter days. I like to get it on nice and early in the day so the beautiful aromas fill the kitchen and spread throughout the house. I love this style of cooking where you get your chop on early in the day, throw all the ingredients in a big pot and then let old father time do the cooking for you so that beef is falling apart in your mouth.. Mmmmmm
Ingredients
- 500g chuck/ gravy / braising steak (Brisket works great too)
- 2 Brown or red onions diced
- 3 carrots diced (5-7mm cubes works for me)
- 3 stalks of celery diced (same size as carrots and onions)
- 5 cloves of garlic minced (I’d put 10 in if my wife would let me!)
- 250g sliced mushrooms
- 4-5 Thyme sprigs (Fresh is best but dried is fine if fresh isn’t available)
- Rosemary sprig
- Lemon zest + juice
- Balsamic Vinegar
- Kecap Manis or dark soy (Yeah I said it.. Try it!)
- Spoon of Honey
- Tomato Paste
- 2x 440ml cans of diced tomatoes
- Corn Flour for dusting beef
- Salt & Pepper
- Paprika
- Cumin
- Cinnamon
- 1 cup Beef stock
- Knob of Butter
- Thick Fettuccine to serve on.
- Parmesan cheese
I love to add a bit of zest and freshness when I have done a long cook, so I serve with a Gremolata
Gremolata
- Chopped parsley
- Lemon zest and juice
- Tablespoon Olive oil
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- Little Chilli
- Teaspoon of Dijon Mustard (optional, I think it adds plenty)
Method
The reason I love to use my Kiritsuke knife for this cook is there is a lot of chopping with a range of ingredients and this knife is made for chopping with gusto. The long blade of this Japanese knife is great for a lot of chopping in a decent amount of prep is required. The extra thickness of the blade towards the point helps it drop through the chop. Start by dicing your beef to roughly 20mm x 20mm cubes. Dust in cornflour and season with salt & Pepper (beef loves salt & pepper). Get your pot super hot with a big lug of olive oil and brown off. It's important to not overcrowd the bottom of the pot as the beef releases liquid, which if overcrowded will then make the beef stew rather than sizzle. We want those brown delicious bits forming on the beef that sizzling does, so brown off in batches to make sure this happens. Take beef out and set aside.
Lower heat to a little under half and sauté your diced onions, garlic, carrots and celery in a little oil and butter. This is called a “SOFFRITTO”. Whilst this is cooking down you can start adding all the other ingredients. Just leave the wet ingredients until last (tin tomatoes and beef stock). Once all in, you can add your beef and those juices, and your tomatoes and beef stock. You can also add a little red wine if you like or save for yourself!
Now you have everything in you can leave it. Let simmer on low for 3-4 hours, stirring occasionally.
Make your Gremolata by dicing all ingredients and mixing into a small bowl.
Time to serve up on fettuccine with a little parmesan cheese on top with the Gremolata spooned on and some cracked black pepper and a little salt.
