Big Fat Healthy Slow Cooker Shredded Beef Ragú is a mouthful. It’s almost as rich as a beef bourguinon without the fuss and whole bottle of good red wine. This is more of Wednesday night dinner with a Sunday feel.

Beef Cubes are cheap, and yes it hurts me to talk about cheap beef, because I’m not talking unhealthy and I don’t want you to misunderstand. This is going to taste good from your mouth to your gut to your soul.

Cheap Beef Cubes turn into Delicious rich, provencal, shredded beef.

I do want you to get out the slow cooker (honestly something I don’t do enough of), and turn cheap beef into a rich, provencal, shredded beef full of flavor and ready to be eaten over rice, over pasta, over polenta, over grits, over zoodles, over potatoes or simply in a bowl.

The leftovers can be placed into crepes, omelettes, frittatas, tortillas, dinner rolls, gnocchi, or simply served in a bowl. Here I used a store-bought gnocchi and left-over shredded beef ragú. This is Italian meat and potatoes and kids love it!

Slow Cooker Shredded Beef Ragú Process

You can play around with this recipe for this ragú, sort of. You can’t believe some of the emails I get where people change the recipe to nearly unrecognizable and then tell me how it didn’t taste as good as they anticipated. So allow me to guide you on what you can and cannot do to this recipe.

• The main ingredients are onion, carrots, celery, crushed tomatoes, beef, cream, wine.
• Beef cubes can be replaced with pork cubes or veal cubes.
• Crushed tomatoes can be replaced with a can of Italian peeled tomatoes (not diced tomatoes).
• Celery can be replaced by apples, fresh fennel or nothing. NO celery salt!
• Carrots can be replaced by 1/2 cup cubed sweet potatoes.
• White wine can be replaced by red wine.
• Add in some milk, cream or skip this. Don’t add milk substitutes like almond milk or coconut milk. Just leave it out.

Slow Cooker Shredded Beef Ragú is Easy and Affordable.

This should  be a very easy dinner. You will have to prep for about ten minutes. How easy is that? You will need to chop some onions, celery, carrots and brown your beef. If you skip browning the beef cubes, they will be gray and you will miss the flavor browning meat makes happen.

Beef cubes are the least expensive beef on the market and this dish can turn into several leftover meals. This is one way to eat , big fat healthy food without a lot of fuss and on a budget.

Remember beef cubes the next time you’re in the grocery store. They are not just for beef soup or beef stew, but I have those recipes for you too.

Italian Beef Stew

Beef and Veal Shepherd’s Pie

Paleo Vegetable Beef Soup

Beef and Cabbage Soup

Tomato Beef Soup with Einkorn Berries

Uncomplicated French Beef Bourguinon

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Slow Cooker Shredded Beef Ragú or What to do with Cheap Beef Cubes

Slow Cooker Shredded Beef Ragú, fork tender and versatile, can be served on pasta, rice, gnocchi, polenta or by itself.

Course Entree

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 6 hours hours

Total Time 6 hours hours 20 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 pounds beef cubes
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 carrots small dice
• 2 celery sticks small dice
• 1 large onion small dice
• 1 large can tomato crushed tomatoes
• 1/4 cup cream (optional
• 2 cups dry white wine can use red wine
• salt pepper
• fresh herbs for garnish such as flat Italian parsley

Instructions

• Warm olive oil on medium heat.
• Remove any excess fat or gristle from beef cubes.
• Generously season beef cubes with salt and pepper.
• Brown beef cubes on all sides. Remove.
• Add to same pan onions, carrots, celery, and cook for about two minutes.
• Add garlic cloves.
• Add tomatoes, followed by cream.
• Once cream is incorporated, add wine.
• Transfer to your slow cooker for 6 hours on high, 12 hours on low.
• If you are cooking on high, add 1 cup water.

The post Slow Cooker Shredded Beef Ragú or What to do with Cheap Beef Cubes appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Quick and Easy Minestrone Soup is for the person who doesn’t want canned soup, but doesn’t have six hours either. This is the minestrone equivalent to this quick version of chicken noodle soup.

This may not be minestrone soup that my great grandmother made, but she would still be proud! Why? Because it’s still real food, made with fresh organic vegetables and San Marzano tomatoes. Most importantly, it’s tasty. No heavy sodium or canned food taste. Just fresh, healthy, and worthy of being showered with freshly grated parmigiano reggiano cheese.

One day, I vow to make Marcella Hazan’s minestrone soup, which is quite a commitment with a real crazy good meat broth, but in the meantime, this is my shortcut.

It all started when I found out that Martha Stewart had a recall on this pot I bought a few years ago. It failed. It burned and Macy’s had a recall, which by the way is still going on if you happen to have one of the pots.  This week, Martha’s new cast iron pots was on sale for 60% off. Lucky me. I took the old pot back, got a new pot in this gorgeous Green Apple color and a few dollars in return.

The pot came with a recipe for a minestrone  soup that looked like it could be prepared in about five minutes. I changed it up a bit, but it was my inspiration to break in the new pot. You can improvise this recipe too. Add in potatoes, or add in more of your favorite vegetables on hand. If you don’t like or have kale, use cabbage. I’m partial to kale in soups because they retain body.

I love cast iron pans, so much so, I created a category for it. This particular brand (no paid endorsement here) does the job, is attractive and affordable. I could and should write a whole post about why I own 9 cast iron pots and pans and it’s my preferred cookware. Most of them are ancient cast iron frying pans, but two are enameled cast iron dutch ovens that get used on a nearly daily basis. The main attraction for me has always been the even heat retention and ability to go into the oven.

I was able to make my soup, stick it in the oven at 200 degrees and go out to the park for with the boys for a few hours. We returned to this pot of soup as lunch, and when my husband returned from four days of traveling, it was dinner. This is how I manage to appear like I’m always in the kitchen with homemade food. I know the shortcuts. Of course, you can leave a soup in a crock pot, but you can’t make it all in the same pot. I sauteed the vegetables first to break into their flavor before adding the liquid and you can’t do that in a crock pot.

Whatever brand you are able to purchase, please remember to only cook on medium low (I don’t go past 4 out 10). My favorite aspect is that these go right into the oven for continued cooking, braising or warming. Today, it’s going to be short ribs as practice for a very special event.

If you live in the Nashville area, you don’t want to miss the premier of Relish Epicurea Supper Club on April 26.  I am the guest chef/food blogger for the premier of this brand new supper club.

So tell me, do you cook with cast iron? And, do you have some shortcuts for soup so you don’t have to open a can?

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Quick and Easy Minestrone Soup

Quick & Easy Minestrone as inspired by a recipe card from Martha Stewart, but made with my own touches and more of a tomato macaroni soup with kale.

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 45 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves
• 3 carrots diced
• 1 celery stick diced
• 1 whole onion chopped
• 7 cups beef broth I use organic Better than Bouillon Beef Base
• 1 can San Marzano Italian Tomatoes
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary
• few sprigs fresh Italian parsley
• parmigiano reggiano cheese rind optional
• 2 cups freshly cut green beans
• 1 can white beans
• 1 bunch tuscan kale
• 2 cups macaroni cooked separately
• salt pepper
• Garnish with more olive oil and parmigiano reggiano

Instructions

• Heat oil in pan. Add garlic cloves whole. Remove before they brown.
• Add in onion, carrots, celery and cook until softened.
• Add in can of tomatoes with juice. Crush tomatoes with your hands as you pour in.
• Add in beef broth, sprig of rosemary and parsley and rind of parmigiano reggiano and beans. Cook for 30 minutes on low heat. Season with salt and pepper.
• Wash kale. Remove ribs, and chop to large bite size pieces.
• Add in green beans and kale.
• Cook for 30 more minutes. In meantime, cook pasta two minutes less than package directions. Remove parsley and rosemary. Add in.
• Serve with a drizzle of olive oil and freshly grated parmigiano reggiano.
• NOTE: Everything can be made ahead and placed into the oven to keep warm, but add pasta in at the end or it will soak up all the broth and get mushy.

The post Quick and Easy Minestrone Soup and Cast Iron Dutch Ovens appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

I am Italian. I’m picky about my tomato sauces, but you may be surprised. I like my sauce understated, balanced, bright and fresh, even though I used canned tomatoes. If you need a recipe for fresh garden tomato sauce, I have one here.

Here is a Video I made for my Italian Grandmother’s Homemade Tomato Sauce

I make two kinds of tomato sauces. The basic sauce is plain and balanced,  with no seeds, no pulp, nothing chunky, suitable for a manicotti or ravioli, the kind my Italian grandmother and my aunts made. It didn’t have to have meat, although it often did. This is the recipe I’m sharing here. But I will give you the option of keeping the tomato sauce chunky. I like it both ways.

This authentic Italian Tomato sauce is the little black dress of many Italian dishes.

Easy, authentic, homemade tomato sauce is what I grew up on nearly every Sunday, maybe made with meatballs and spaghetti, maybe made plain and used for stuffed shells.

If you’re looking for a sauce that has a lot of ingredients and spices and sits on the stove all day building up acid and later an attack to your stomach, this is not the sauce for you. I liken that kind of mutated tomato sauce to cheap, tacky dresses that never make a woman look good.

No no no, this is the Audrey Hepburn of sauces. Classy, classic, understated, hard to improve. In tomato sauce terms, bright, fresh, clean, as opposed to the heavy, overpowering, overcooked, over-seasoned sauce found in one of those restaurants with red checkered table cloths and Chianti bottles holding candles. (You shouldn’t eat at those places).

That’s like thinking every Italian is in the Mafia or on Jersey Shore. They are not; it’s just that those stereotype train wrecks are just fun to watch.

In South Philly, where my family originated,  this basic sauce was simply referred to as gravy.

If you really want to get into the head of Italian cooking, watch this scene from the Big Night. It’s hysterical, but it explains a lot.

Easy, Authentic, Italian Homemade tomato sauce is almost as easy as opening up a jar, but better.

In Italy, restraint for tomato sauce is understood. In America, the sauce reflects our culture and  the way  we are. We think more is more, more ingredients, more cooking time, giant portions.

When I make classic spaghetti and meatballs, I like to use this basic sauce, maybe with some optional red chili flakes.

I usually make a sauce like this for lasagna, manicotti or stuffed shells.

Use the Right Tomatoes for Authentic Homemade Italian Tomato Sauce

I always start with San Marzano tomatoes, DOP.  They cost twice as much as regular Italian plum tomatoes, but they are worth it. This is one place to splurge. I use the Cento D.O.P. certified Italian Tomatoes. You will taste the difference.

How to Make Authentic Italian Tomato Sauce

These tomatoes squish easily in your hand and are then taken through a food mill to make sure there is no pulp or seeds. I sauté big chunks of onion with a few cloves of garlic olive oil, then add in the tomato puree. Don’t worry if you don’t have a food mill. If you use Cento tomatoes, they yield very little pulp and you can just crush with your hands and add to the pot.

A little salt, pepper, parsley or fresh basil and that’s it. If I don’t happen to have San Marzano tomatoes, I add a carrot to the sauce to sweeten it up a bit.

I cook it just to the point that I’m happy with the thickness. This sauce is strained to a puree, to make sure I get out all of the onion and herbs.  I cook this sauce no longer than two hours on very low and that is just to reduce it down.

This homemade tomato sauce just might  be good enough at one hour and that all depends on the viscosity you desire. That’s just a fancy word for the flow or thickness of the sauce.

If you’re stretched for time, you can make my grandmother’s homemade tomato sauce in one  hour. 

If you’re stretched for time, do this. Do NOT add water. Use one onion, quartered and one carrot quartered per 2-4 cans of strained tomatoes. Cook for one hour on low. For extra flavor, use an immersion blender and blend in the onion and carrots.

Freeze this homemade tomato sauce for future meals.

Now that you have the perfect sauce, make sure you cook pasta al dente like an Italian. 

Make a double or triple batch. Make sure sauce is cooled completely, and freeze in large ziplock bags for up to six months. Take out and defrost in a bowl of cold water.

Use this sauce with  Paleo Meatballs, ,  Cheese Stuffed Meatballs or  Veal Meatballs, 

You might want to go and make some homemade pasta to go with it.

This sauce is great in Manicotti

This sauce is perfect for my Spinach Lasagna.

Try it with Eggplant Parmesan, (there’s also a gluten-free option)

To find out about some other great tomato sauces and one of the world’s legendary Italian cookbook authors, see the article I wrote here about cooking Italy with Marcella Hazan for a year.

Use My Homemade Tomato in these Recipes from Spinach Tiger

Three Cheese Spaghetti Squash Lasagna

Cheese Stuffed Meatballs

Chicken Parmesan Old School Style

Keto Chicken Parmesan

Meatball Sliders

You might also like this Pizza Sauce from Spinach Tiger

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My Italian Grandmother’s Basic Homemade Tomato Sauce

My grandmother’s easy Italian tomato sauce made with San Marzano Tomatoes

Course Sauce

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 4 hours hours

Total Time 4 hours hours 15 minutes minutes

Servings 10 cups

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 onion coarsely shopped
• 1 carrot coarsely chopped
• 4 large cans 28 ounce San Marzano Tomatoes (I use these)
• fresh basil or parsley
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

• Saute onion and carrots for 5 minutes on low.
• Add in garlic for a few minutes, being careful not to brown. You don't want bitter sauce.
• Strain tomatoes either using a food mill or colander. If you don't have that, break up with your hands and take out the bigger pieces of pulp.
• This recipe is for a smooth marinara sauce. You can, however, chop the tomatoes and use entire can. If you use good tomatoes as I recommend, you will not have any waste, when using food mill.
• Add in softened butter.
• Season with salt pepper and herbs.
• Cook on very low without a lid for 2 to 4 hours, stirring frequently, or put in a crock pot on low for 6 to 8 hours.
• Strain out the vegetables and herbs before serving.
• If you don't have a food mill, just feel free to put all the tomatoes crushed in your hands into the pot. You will have a thicker sauce with some chunks of tomato but it's equally delicious.

Notes

If you’re stretched for time, you can make my grandmother’s homemade tomato sauce in one  hour. 

If you’re stretched for time, do this. Do NOT add water. Use one onion, quartered and one carrot quartered per 2-4 cans of strained tomatoes. Cook for one hour on low. For extra flavor, use an immersion blender and blend in the onion and carrots.

The post My Italian Grandmother’s Basic Homemade Tomato Sauce appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Today is the last day of Autumn, but it’s cold outside.  This is  when I want my dutch oven to sit on the stove simmering comfort food. Since I’m wanting this most days, I want healthy, and hearty, which seems to be my theme these days, and this Italian stew of braised chicken, tomatoes, potatoes and peas comes to mind.

This is one of those meals that’s made on a cold afternoon in between doing many other things. In other words, it’s easy, not a dish you need to focus on or clear out the kitchen and clean up the counter. Most of the ingredients were chopped on one cutting board, and it’s all made in just one pot.

Eventually, the chicken falls off the bone, but is not mushy or flavorless. It goes from  a braise to a stew. It does well with big crusty bread or garlic bread to sop up the sauce. It deserves a big fat glass of red wine.

The chicken is browned in a heavy pan of olive oil, but at some point in the cooking process, the skin is removed. I’m not fussy about what parts of the chicken you use. You might be a thigh person or a breast only person. I used both, but cut the breasts in half so the parts were equal.

The braise begins with a little carrot, celery, onion and garlic, followed by San Marzano plum tomatoes. At this point, you can optionally throw in a half glass of dry white wine. I generally use white wine for my bolognese sauce and I sometimes prefer a white wine when I want to keep the tomato taste clean and light. The tomato sauce should be flavorful, chunky and good enough to eat with a spoon.

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Braised Chicken, Tomatoes, Potatoes, Peas

Comforting braised chicken Italian.

Course Entree

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 2 hours hours

Total Time 2 hours hours 20 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 2 thighs 2 chicken breasts, cut in half
• 1 large can tomatoes
• olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 onion
• 1 celery
• 1 carrot
• big bunch parsley
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 1/2 cups chopped potatoes
• 6 olives oil cured, seeds removed or spanish olives
• few sprigs thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon red chili pepper
• 1 cup frozen peas
• white wine optional

Instructions

• Brown chicken in olive oil. Remove set aside.
• Saute carrots, celery, onion, garlic for ten minutes. Add in tomatoes, chopped with juice, half of parsley chopped, salt pepper, chicken. Cook for one hour over low heat.
• Add in potatoes, cook for 20 minutes. Add in peas, rest of parsley, cook for 10 more minutes. Serve with crusty bread to sop up the sauce.

The post Braised Chicken, Tomatoes, Potatoes, Peas appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

When I ate my first fork full sitting at one of those charming outdoor restaurants in Rome, I was ready to just eat a dish of pasta (the way you eat a grilled cheese), but I remember stopping and saying, “whoa, what’s in this? It looks so very ordinary, and the way I think, I’m already eating tomorrow’s bowl when I haven’t finished todays. I came home and I made it several days in a row with fresh tomatoes and then I forgot about it, because summer was over and I thought this dish HAD to be made with fresh tomatoes. I was so positive that every plate of pasta all’ Amatriciana was made with fresh tomatoes, but now I’m not so sure.

I’m going to ask you to trust me that this is a spectacular sauce. It looks like just another dish of spaghetti. In fact, It looks like that 80’s hit, spaghetti pomodoro, that I don’t much care for as it usually reeks of garlic.

As I followed the instructions to chop canned Italian tomatoes, and drain the juice, I thought I might be disappointed. How wrong I was. There simply are no disappointments when cooking a Marcella recipe. The combination of butter, onion, and tomato is very sweet, made sultry with pancetta, and cut just right with hot pepper.

Retro Rose thought I used FRESH tomatoes. I fooled her.

There were three of us for dinner. Two of us were not very hungry. One whole pound of pasta completely disappeared, and that never happens. We are Italians. We eat good food every day. But, we were jumping up and down (almost) remarking over and over again that this is so good. Retro Rose already took home some of my pancetta and the recipe so she can make it.

So trust me, when Retro Rose gets excited about pasta, it’s a big deal, because she has never counted carbs in her life, and she eats pasta several times a week.

So if you don’t trust me, trust her. She’s been eating pasta for 74 years.

 I googled this sauce to see how others might be preparing this dish. I saw a lot of mistakes. 

I saw garlic.
Please, please do not use garlic in this. It will rob you of sweet onion taste.

I saw olive oil.
I’m not as picky on this, but if you do use olive, also use butter. Even though by the end of the dish you don’t really see butter and onions, you will taste them. They make the dish.

I saw bacon instead of pancetta.
While I can see that pancetta might be more difficult for some to purchase, it delivers a completely different taste than bacon. You can purchase just a small piece for this recipe at deli counters that sell Boars Head, if you don’t have access to an Italian market. Our local Whole Foods actually sells pancetta made here by a local farmer.

I saw canned tomatoes and fresh tomatoes. Good canned tomatoes are better than bad fresh tomatoes.

The Pasta
Bucatini, a thick, hollow spaghetti is the traditional pasta used in this dish. It’s the perfect pasta to cook al dente, and add a thick, dicey sauce must especially blanket a pasta with a bite to it. I have never once experienced a true al dente pasta in an Italian restaurant in America. But, that is all you get in Italy, and it’s so much more al dente than you might think. Keep in mind that pasta continues to cook once you strain it. If you think your “al dente”needs another minute, it’s done.

Normally, I have at least 2 pounds on hand, but just when I need it, my Italian market is out of it until late November. I use De Cecco kamut spaghetti. I love this pasta, find it meaty and, while it is NOT gluten free, it’s a great choice for those with wheat sensitivity.

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Cooking Italy - Pasta all’ Amatriciana, Not Just Another Dish of Spaghetti

I had Pasta all'Amatriciana in Rome, and this recipe is just as good.

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 40 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion diced
• 2 tablespoon butter
• 3 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/4 ”slice pancetta cut into 1”strips (1/2”wide)
• 1 1/2 cups Italian tomatoes diced,drained of juice
• 1/2 small dried hot chili pepper or 1 t chile pepper flakes or to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon salt or taste
• 1 pound pasta
• 1 tablespoon Pecorino cheese freshly grated
• 3 tablespoons Parmigiano Reggiano freshly grated

Instructions

• Saute onion in oil and butter on medium until it's pale softened, almost golden. Add pancetta, cooking for about 2-3 minutes.
• Add tomatoes, chili pepper, salt and simmer for 25 minutes. Taste and correct for salt and pepper.
• Toss pasta with sauce then add both cheeses.

Recipe for filling adapted from Marcella Hazan’sEssentials of Classical Cooking

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