Greek Beef Ragú Pasta

A Greek Beef Ragú Pasta that tastes like home. Slow-cooked for a long time allows flavors to develop and really shine.

Few meals are as satisfying as a good pasta dish. This is the Greek version embellished with influences I have had during years of being curious about food. For example, I start the sauce base with a classic mirepoix – diced onions, celery, and carrots. (Greeks don’t use mirepoix as a base). I simmer the veggies for a while and start browning the ground beef, and instead of milk that classic Italian beef ragú has, I add a glass of red wine. I season with my beloved Greek oregano, bay leaf, cloves, and a cinnamon stick. I learned to let this Beef Ragú cook slowly for 3-4 hours or more if I can afford it.

1. Add 2–3 Tbsp olive oil in a large pot. In medium heat, add the onion—season with a pinch of salt. Stir and sauté until onion is translucent. Add the garlic and stir. 2. Add the celery and carrots. Stir well. Add 2 tbsp of tomato paste. Stir everything well and season with salt, fresh ground pepper, and a generous pinch of dry oregano. Add the bay leaf and the cloves. Keeping sautéing for 2-3 min and let flavors develop.

3. Add 1/2 cup water, add the bouillon, stir everything well and lower heat. Simmer for 15 min or so. 4. Increase heat to medium and add the ground meat. Break the meat with a wooden spoon to avoid large chunks. Brown the ground meat all over.

5. Add the wine. Increase heat to high and let the alcohol evaporate for 1-2 minutes. 6. Add the tomatoes and cinnamon stick. Stir everything well, add 1/2 cup of water. Lower heat and simmer ragu sauce for 3 hours, occasionally checking if you need to add more water.

The result is a velvety amazing sauce representing exactly the way I like my beef ragú to be. Comforting and delicious with deep flavors to satisfy the most difficult palette.

What pasta should I use?

Sometimes I like to pair it with the fat macaroni pasta of my childhood. As a kid, I was not too fond of it when my mother cooked fat pasta. She was from Crete, and it was more common to use that kind of pasta at the time. In Greece, the fat macaroni pasta is usually used for the traditional pastitsio dish, a baked pasta casserole that is the epitome of Greek comfort food. As an adult, I appreciate this kind of pasta paired with the beef ragu sauce. Pappardelle would also work really well as well as tagliatelle, to capture the delicious sauce.

For more Greek comfort food check these out!

• Greek Ratatouille – Briam
• Pastitsio – Greek Pasta Bake
• Greek Meatballs – Keftedes
• Greek Pie With Pastourma & Kasseri

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Greek Beef Ragú Pasta

by Jenny Skrapaliori Graves

A Greek Beef Ragú Pasta that tastes like home. Cooked for a long time, is comforting and delicious with deep flavors to satisfy the most difficult palette.

5 from 7 votes

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Prep Time 20 mins

Cook Time 3 hrs

Course Main

Cuisine Greek

Servings 8

Calories 394 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• ▢ 2 lb ground beef
• ▢ 3 tbsp olive oil
• ▢ 1 medium onion diced
• ▢ 2 cloves garlic sliced
• ▢ 1 celery stalk diced
• ▢ 2 medium carrots diced
• ▢ 2 tbs tomato paste
• ▢ dry oregano
• ▢ 1 organic palm oil-free veggie bouillon cubes
• ▢ 1 bay leaf
• ▢ 3-4 cloves
• ▢ 32 oz San Marzano tomatoes like Gustarosso.
• ▢ 1 cinnamon stick
• ▢ 1 tbsp ground nutmeg
• ▢ salt
• ▢ freshly ground pepper

Instructions

 

• Add 2–3 Tbsp olive oil in a large pot. In medium heat, add the onion. Season with a pinch of salt. Stir and sauté until onion is translucent. Add the garlic and stir.
• Add the celery and carrots. Stir well. Add 2 tbsp of tomato paste. Stir everything well and season with salt, fresh ground pepper and a generous pinch of dry oregano. Add the bay leaf and the cloves. Keeping sautéing for 2-3 min and let flavors develop. 
• Add 1/2 cup water, add the bouillon, stir everything well and lower heat. Simmer for 15 min or so. 
• Increase heat to medium and add the ground meat. Break the meat with a wooden spoon to avoid large chunks. Brown the ground meat all over.
• Add the wine. Increase heat to high and let the alcohol evaporate for 1-2 minutes.
• Add the tomatoes and cinnamon stick. Stir everything well, add 1/2 cup of water.
• Lower heat and simmer ragu sauce for 3 hours, checking occasionally in case you need to add more water. 
• Serve over your favorite pasta with plenty of parmesan cheese.

Notes

• The more the sauce cooks the better it will taste. If you can afford 3-4 hours of simmer you will discover a deep, wonderful flavor in your ragu.
• You can substitute 1 lb ground beef with 1 lb ground pork or 1 lb ground sausage. If you like some heat use hot italian ground sausage.
• In the summer when good tomatoes are in abundance use 32 oz fresh tomatoes, grated instead of 32 oz San Marzanno. Depending on how sweet the fresh tomatoes are, mix a tsp sugar in the grated tomatoes before adding to cut on the acidity if you need to.

Nutrition

Calories: 394kcalCarbohydrates: 13gProtein: 22gFat: 29gSaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 81mgSodium: 273mgPotassium: 761mgFiber: 3gSugar: 7gVitamin A: 2875IUVitamin C: 14mgCalcium: 78mgIron: 4mg

Keyword bolognese, Greek beef Ragu pasta, pasta bolognese

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