Roast Ragu

Wow, it has been forever since I blogged a recipe!! For a while, I hadn't been doing too much cooking. Then when I did start cooking again, it was mostly easy favorites, nothing new. I've really missed cooking but have been enjoying snuggling with my baby girl. :-)

The word ragu in Italian actually means meat sauce, not the crap in a jar that it means here. Think bolognese. This recipe is essentially my traditional Italian meat sauce, with a twist. Normally, I use ground beef and turkey sausage but I thought about trying it with shredded beef from a roast. It turned out so incredibly tasty, I don't know which one I like better now!

Roast Ragu

2.5 lb top round roast
1/4 cup EVOO
2 Tbls butter, plus 3 Tbls
1 large onion, diced
1 cup diced celery
3/4 cup diced carrot
1 leek, white part only, sliced and washed
4 large cloves garlic, chopped
1 24-oz can San Marzano tomatoes (whole plum tomatoes)
1 cup dry red wine
About 2 Tbls dry oregano
About 1 Tbls dry thyme
2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper
Parmiggiano reggiano

Preheat oven to 300. In a dutch oven or large stock pot, heat EVOO and 2 Tbls butter over medium heat. Saute onion, celery, carrot and leek until slightly soft, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and saute another 5 minutes. Meanwhile, pat dry meat and season both sies with salt, pepper and dry thyme. Increase heat under burner to medium high and push veggies to edges, off heat as much as possible. Sear beef in the center of the dutch oven over the heat until nicely browned on both sides. Remove from heat. Add can of whole tomatoes, wine and bay leaves. Cover and place in oven. Cover and bake for 2.5-3 hours until meat shreds with a fork, uncovering halfway through. Remove from oven and place just the beef on a cutting board, leaving everything else in the pot. Remove bay leaves and discard. Finely shred beef with 2 forks or with your hands and add back to the pot. Add remaining 3 Tbls butter and stir together to melt. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve over a short pasta, like penne, topped with parmiggiano reggiano.