Crockpot Rustic Beef Ragu
Looking for easy week meal prep and a great, flavorful recipe? Ta-da! You have to try this Crockpot Rustic Beef Ragu recipe. It makes a ton, so you have plenty for a meal the day of and to freeze for later use. Added bonus, you get that cooked all day flavor without putting in all the hours since it's adapted for the crockpot.
I put this in the crockpot on a Sunday and let it go all day while I prepped other stuff for the week like Chicken Salad and Homemade Chicken Stock. For dinner that night, we had simple angel hair pasta with the beef ragu. Then later in the week, I made Italian beef and pepper quesadillas. There are still two large containers in the freezer for meals down the road. Yep! It's that awesome. You can go do a little dance of pride about how awesome you are at weekly meal prep and how easy your week is going to be! Don't be shy, you know you want to.
With the simple, earthy flavor it's easy to use by itself and with different ingredients. ps: Tealy REALLY enjoyed the smell of this one. Must have been the wine...
Rustic Beef Ragu
Makes 4 large servings + leftovers
3-4 lbs beef roast
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 pinch each dried rosemary & thyme
1 small red onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 celery stick, finely chopped
½ bottle red cooking wine
2 14 oz cans plum tomatoes
2 tablespoons pearl barley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Dried pasta of your choice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 handfuls grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish
Chop onion, carrot and celery. Place in on the bottom of the crock pot along with minced garlic, rosemary and thyme. Cut roast into 2"-3" cubes and brown them in olive oil in a frying pan over high heat. Add the browned meat to the crockpot. Remove the frying pan from the heat and pour in wine. Using a wooden spoon, loosen all the pieces from the bottom of the pan. Pour the wine into the crock pot along with canned tomatoes. Sprinkle barley all over. Add a teaspoon of salt and freshly ground pepper. Cook on low for 10-12 hours or high to 5-6 hours. In the last hour take the lid off and shred the beef with two forks, and a splash of water or wine if the meat is too dry. Cook for one hour longer on low, or a half hour on high. At the end of cooking time stir in butter. Before serving cook your pasta in a large pot of salted water according to package directions. Combine 1/4 or more of beef ragu with hot pasta and sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Freeze the rest of ragu for later use.
The meat can be inexpensive and do just fine! Don't buy a super expensive cut of meat that will end up tasting pretty much the same due to the long cooking time and other flavors.
Oooooo! So fancy! Yeah.... my husband and I are so not wine drinkers. I just grabbed this bottle off the top shelf that someone gave us awhile ago hoping it would taste alright. And awwww! It's from the year we met! 2011 was a great year. MEMORIES!
All in! Bubbling nicely and smelling fantastic. Now the waiting begins while you DON'T slave over this meal.
BOOM! You are going to love how this tastes and how little you had to do! Imagine starting this up in the morning and coming home from work to this fantastic meal. Crockpot for the win!
You might even love it more with parmesan cheese... not shown cause I didn't realize I had run out. Ugh. Such a sad moment, but still great sans cheese.
Did I mention Tealy REALLY enjoyed this dish?
A little too much... Crockpot Rustic Beef Ragu is definitely Tealy approved. I hope you enjoy, and send me your photos of what you make with your Beef Ragu leftovers!
