Beef shin and ale ragù
Meltingly tender beef shin is slow cooked for four hours to achieve a dark and rich ragù. This recipe makes enough for 12 people, so serve at a dinner party or freeze the other half for another day. Why not bake it into our peppered beef and mushroom pie?
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Serves 10-12 (2 meals for 5-6 people)
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Hands-on time 30 min, oven time 4-4½ hours, simmering time 15 min
Ingredients
- 3-4 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2kg higher-welfare British beef shin slices (see tips)
- 40g butter
- 500g soffritto mix (see Know-how)
- 5 garlic cloves, crushed
- 4 tbsp tomato paste
- 3 anchovy fillets in olive oil, chopped (see tips)
- 1 tbsp English mustard
- 750ml dark ale
- 2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
- 1 litre good-quality beef stock
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- Mashed potatoes or cooked pappardelle pasta to serve
- Chopped fresh parsley to serve
You’ll also need…
- Large flameproof casserole with a tight-fitting lid
Method
- Heat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas 4. Heat a splash of oil in the casserole over a medium-high heat. Season the beef, then add to the casserole in batches. Fry for 6-8 minutes, turning halfway through, until golden. Put on a plate.
- Deglaze the pan by adding a good splash of water and scraping the bottom with a wooden spoon to release any stuck-on crispy bits, then pour into a jug and set aside.
- Heat the remaining oil and butter in the pan, then add the soffritto mix and the garlic with a pinch of salt. Cook over a medium heat for 10-15 minutes until softened and starting to colour. Add the tomato paste, anchovies (see tips) and mustard, then stir. Pour in the ale and bubble for 4-5 minutes, then add the chopped tomatoes, beef stock and reserved deglazing mixture.
- Return the meat to the pan, stir, then bring to a simmer. Cover and put in the oven to cook for 3 hours.
- Remove the lid, stir, then cook uncovered for 1-1½ hours more until the meat is fall-apart tender.
- Remove the meat from the sauce, then shred using 2 forks, discarding any cartilage that hasn’t melted. Put the pan over a medium heat and bubble gently for 15 minutes to reduce. Return the meat to the pan, stir in the Worcestershire sauce, then taste and season.
- Serve half with mash or stirred into pasta, topped with parsley. Store the rest.
- Recipe from January 2019 Issue
Nutrition
For 12
- Calories
- 355kcals
- Fat
- 17.1g (6.3g saturated)
- Protein
- 38.4g
- Carbohydrates
- 8.1g (7.3g sugars)
- Fibre
- 1.8g
- Salt
- 1.1g
delicious. tips
We used Daylesford organic beef shin from Ocado, but any good butcher should sell British beef shin.
If you prefer, add 1 tsp Marmite instead of the anchovies.
Leave the leftover ragù to cool completely, then transfer to a large labelled food bag or container and chill for up to 3 days in the fridge, or freeze
for up to 3 months. Defrost in the fridge overnight.Soffritto is a diced veg base for Italian soups/stews. You can buy fresh or frozen (use straight from the freezer) from Waitrose/Ocado or simply make your own by frying very finely chopped onion, carrot and celery (in a 2:1:1 ratio) in olive oil until soft.
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