Health & Wellness Magazine HealthQuest Fall 2020 | Page 7

STRACCOTO RECIPE
STRACCOTO
BEAUTIFUL SLOW-COOKED BEEF RAGÙ
BY: JAMIE OLIVER
A TUSCAN family favourite: think the emotion of Bolognese on the familiarity scale, but with a whole new level of comfort. It’s
inspired by Nonna Miriam from Panzano, and this simple cooking process gives you what she calls a ‘rich plate’ – she likened it
to the moment you know you’ve got a winning hand in poker. To serve, it’s traditional to enjoy the rich sauce with freshly cooked
tagliatelle as a primo, serving the rest of the sauce with the meat as a secondo, teamed with steamed greens, oozy polenta, mash or
whatever you fancy!
Serves 8
Total time: 4 hours
1kg piece of beef chuck, sinew removed
olive oil
2 red onions
2 carrots
2 cloves of garlic
2 sticks of celery
1 bulb of fennel
½ a bunch of fresh rosemary (15g)
½ a bunch of fresh sage (15g)
250ml Chianti red wine
2 tablespoons tomato purée
1.5 litres organic meat or veg stock
Place the meat in a fairly snug-fitting casserole pan on a medium-low heat with 2 tablespoons of oil, turning with tongs, while you
peel the onions, carrots and garlic, trim the celery and fennel, then roughly chop it all to make a soffritto – it cooks low and slow
so there’s no need to be too precise. Stir into the pan, tie the rosemary and sage together and add, then season with sea salt and
black pepper. Cook for 20 to 30 minutes, or until starting to caramelize, stirring the veg and turning the meat occasionally.
Turn the heat up to high, pour in the wine, stir in the tomato purée, and let the wine cook away. Pour in the stock, bring to the
boil, then place a double layer of scrunched-up wet greaseproof paper on the surface. Reduce to a low heat and cook for around
3 hours, or until the meat is meltingly tender, turning and basting occasionally. Season to perfection.
Lift the meat out on to a board, carve it into thin slices, and spoon over enough of that incredible sauce to keep the meat nice
and juicy. Toss the rest of the sauce (reduce on the hob, if needed) with freshly cooked tagliatelle, and finely grate over a little
Parmesan, to serve. Double win.
CALORIES - 360KCAL
FAT - 20.6G
SAT FAT - 7.2G
PROTEIN - 30.6G
CARBS - 8G
SUGAR - 6.2G
SALT - 0.7G
FIBRE - 2.6G
Jamie Cooks Italy by Jamie Oliver is published by Penguin Random House
© Jamie Oliver Enterprises Limited (2018 Jamie Cooks Italy), photography: David Loftus.
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