A few weekends ago, we met up for dinner with my sister’s family and my cousin’s family after they took their kids to Sesame Place. It was at an Italian restaurant that my cousin found, and the menu was rather fun to read and use for ideas. I wound up ordering the oxtail ragout, and I must say, it was rather enjoyable. So, I decided to take it upon myself and try to recreate it (with my own wrinkles/tweaks). The major changes I made were to 1. Use Beef Rib instead of oxtail, 2. Upped the ratio of meat/veggies to sauce, 3. Made the sauce out of a mix of red peppers and tomatoes, and 4. Toned down the sweetness of the sauce a bit.
We opted to use zucchini, mushrooms, and onions as our diced vegetable components, but you can customize it any way you want by picking other ingredients…or swap out the beef for another meat! We served this over Angel Hair pasta, and while it would go well with other pastas (or even maybe(?) mashed potatoes or Polenta if you really want to go wild), we think that angel hair is best. I can’t really put my finger on why, but it just works well.
Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
- Boneless Beef Rib
- Red Pepper
- Tomato
- Onion
- Garlic
- Mushroom
- Zucchini
- Red Wine Vinegar
- Honey (or white sugar)
- Any seasonings you like. We used basil and oregano.
- A little flour (if necessary to thicken your sauce)
Method:
- Start to heat a large pan for which you have a lid (we used stainless steel because it wouldn’t have any issues with acidity from the sauce like cast iron might have), and add in a little olive oil.
- Dice your onions, and add them to your pan to caramelize.
- While your onions cook, dice your garlic, zucchini, mushroom, and meat. When the onions become opaque and start to brown a tad, add the rest of your ingredients.
- As your meat browns, cut your red pepper and tomato into large chunks, and toss those in your food processor with some red wine vinegar. Then, puree.
- When your meat is browned, and your other veggies start to soften, pour your puree into your pan. Then, add your seasonings and sugar or honey, and stir to combine.
- Set your heat to low, cover, and let everything simmer for about 40 minutes. (If is this simmering time that will make your beef extraordinarily tender) **If making pasta, start it at the appropriate time during this 40 minute simmer**
- After 40 minutes, remove the lid, and if your sauce is a little watery (ours was), sprinkle in some flour while stirring vigorously to prevent clumping. We used about 1 teaspoon of flour, and that thickened our sauce nicely.
- Plate, devour, and enjoy!
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