Beef Ragu is a cozy, long-simmering, soul-warming, comfort-giving dish that’s perfect for a raw wintry day. Let it bubble on the back of the stove for an hour or two – perfuming your house with the scents of beef, pancetta, tomato and sage – then savor it fireside with a glass of good Pinot Noir.
Beef Ragu is technically a sauce but it’s such a chunky sauce – more meat than liquid – it could be mistaken for a stew or an Italian take on chili. It’s so thick and luxurious, you can flip the usual pasta/sauce relationship upside down and make the ragu the main event. In this dish, instead of tossing the sauce with the gnocchi, I ladle a generous amount into a big bowl and scatter the gnocchi over the top, then finish with thick shavings of Parmesan cheese.
Let’s talk about the gnocchi. Gnocchi has a reputation for being heavy and bland, and it’s true that commercially-made gnocchi can have an unpleasant consistency reminiscent of uncooked biscuit dough. So let’s avoid that, shall we? Homemade gnocchi is a revelation, so light and tender the dumplings almost melt in your mouth. Gently warmed in butter scented with fresh sage, they sit on top of the thick ragu, too delicate to bury underneath.
Don’t be intimidated by the prospect of making your own gnocchi. The potato dough is simple to throw together. Shaping the dumplings is not a big deal either, because you have my permission to make them ugly. Making perfectly shaped gnocchi with neat grooves is an art form, and I certainly haven’t mastered it – my theory is that the dough needs to be somewhat stiff in order to make it into perfect shapes, and stiff dough equals heavy gnocchi. I would rather have gnocchi that tastes good at the expense of looking pretty, wouldn’t you? And once they’re doused in butter and dunked in rich, beefy ragu, these ugly dumplings look pretty gorgeous to me.
I love this combination of the Beef Ragu with homemade gnocchi, but there there are many other ways to enjoy the ragu if you want to shake it up:
- Thin it with a little bit of pasta-cooking water and toss it with pasta (substantial shapes like rigatoni or pappardelle work best), topped with a generous shower of grated Parmesan.
- Combine it with elbow macaroni, spread it in a baking dish and top with shredded cheese (Cheddar, Mozzarella or Fontina) and bake it into a very sophisticated version of American Chop Suey.
- Stuff it into a split baked potato.
- Serve it on a toasted roll as a Sloppy Joe.
- Spoon it into individual baking dishes or ramekins, top with pastry dough or puff pastry and bake it as a beef pot pie.
- Stuff it into baked acorn squash, then topped with a dollop of homemade ricotta cheese.
Prep tips, making this ahead, and what to do with leftovers:
- The gnocchi can be made ahead. After removing the dumplings from the boiling water, let them cool completely on a baking sheet, then transfer to a large shallow container where they can be stored in a single layer, and chill for up to 2 days. Or arrange them in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with wax paper and freeze. Once they’re frozen, the gnocchi can be piled into a zip-lock bag, and kept for a couple of months in the freezer. Thaw before proceeding to use them in this or other recipes.
- The ragu will keep for 5 days in the fridge, so make it ahead or keep leftovers within that timeframe. It freezes well, and will keep in the freezer for a couple of months.
- Store leftover ragu and gnocchi separately and reheat separately, then assemble the dish as described in the recipe.
- If you have more ragu than gnocchi left over, see some of the ideas I’ve listed above. In fact, it might be a good idea to make a double batch of the ragu for the freezer…just a suggestion.
This recipe is adapted from Potato Gnocchi with Beef Ragu from Bon Appetit magazine, September 1998.
Beef Ragu with Gnocchi
Ingredients
- 2 cups beef broth
- ½ ounce dried porcini mushrooms
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup diced yellow onion (about half a large onion)
- 2 ounces diced pancetta
- 2 ounces prosciutto, chopped
- 1½ teaspoons minced garlic (3 cloves)
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage, divided
- 1 pound ground beef (preferably 85% lean)
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ cup tomato paste
- One 14-ounce can petite-diced tomatoes
- 1 recipe homemade Gnocchi (recipe follows)
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- Block of Parmesan cheese
- Sage leaves for garnish
Directions
- Step 1 Bring the beef broth to a boil in a small saucepan over high heat. Stir in the dried mushrooms. Remove the pan from the heat, cover, and let the mushrooms steep for 30 minutes.
- Step 2 Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven or other heavy soup pot over medium heat. Add the chopped onion, pancetta and prosciutto. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the pancetta is browned and the onions are golden and soft, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and 1½ teaspoons of the sage and cook 1 minute more.
- Step 3 Add the ground beef to the pot, and season with ½ teaspoon of freshly ground pepper and ½ teaspoon of kosher salt if using Diamond Crystal brand (or ¼ teaspoon of Morton’s). Cook, stirring frequently and breaking the beef up with the spoon, until the beef is cooked through and browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the tomato paste and stir until it’s incorporated.
- Step 4 Strain the dried mushrooms through a fine mesh sieve over the pot so the beef broth goes straight into the pot. Move the reconstituted dried mushrooms to a cutting board and finely chop them. Add them to the pot along with the tomatoes and their juices.
- Step 5 Raise the heat to medium high and bring the ragu to a simmer. Once the ragu is simmering, lower the heat to medium low. Simmer the ragu uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms are tender and the ragu has thickened to the consistency of a thick chili, about 1 hour. If the ragu gets too thick before the mushrooms are tender, add a little water to thin it.
- Step 6 While the ragu simmers, make the gnocchi (see below).
- Step 7 When ready to serve, heat a large skillet over medium heat and add the butter. Once the butter is melted, add the gnocchi and the reserved ½ teaspoon of chopped sage. Cook the gnocchi, tossing or stirring occasionally and very gently so as not to break them, until they’re heated through and starting to brown, about 5 minutes.
- Step 8 Taste the ragu and adjust the seasonings if needed. Ladle the hot ragu into 4 large, shallow bowls. Scatter the gnocchi over the ragu. Use a vegetable peeler to shave curls of Parmesan cheese over the gnocchi and ragu. Garnish each bowl with a few fresh sage leaves.
Gnocchi
You can buy a tool called a gnocchi board for shaping the dumplings. I find a regular dinner fork works fine and saves me from having to store a single-use gadget. Use whatever works best for you.
Ingredients
- ¾ pound russet potato (1 large), peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks
- Kosher salt
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
- Pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
- ¾ cup (3 1/8 ounces/90 grams) all-purpose flour, plus additional for the board
Directions
- Step 1 Put the potato chunks into a large saucepan and add cold water deep enough to just cover the potato. Add ½ teaspoon of kosher salt if using Diamond Crystal brand (or ¼ teaspoon if using Morton’s). Bring the water to a boil over high heat, then lower the heat to medium low and simmer until the potato is tender when pierced with a fork, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain the potato into a colander. Refill the pot with water (no need to wash it out first), filling it half full. Add a small handful of kosher salt. Return the pot to the stove over low heat.
- Step 2 Pass the potato through a ricer into a large bowl. (If you don’t have a ricer, put the potato in the bowl and mash with a potato masher.) Set the potato aside to cool for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, raise the heat under the pot of water and bring it to a gentle boil. Set a large sheet pan near the stove, and have a large slotted spoon or spider nearby.
- Step 3 Add the egg, cream, nutmeg and ½ teaspoon of Diamond Crystal kosher salt (or ¼ teaspoon if using Morton’s) to the cooled potatoes and stir until smooth. Add the ¾ cup of flour. Use your hands to gently toss and then knead the dough, just until it comes together in a smooth, moist, slightly sticky dough.
- Step 4 Transfer the dough to a lightly floured pastry board and cut it into 4 equal pieces. Roll the first piece of the dough gently between your palms and the board, shaping it into a long rope about ¾-inch in diameter. Use a sharp knife to cut the rope into 1-inch lengths. Pick up one of the cut pieces of dough and gently roll it between your palms to make a smooth cylinder, then gently squeeze the ends of the cylinder with your thumb on one end and index finger on the other, to make a barrel shape with flattened ends. Repeat with the remaining dough in this first batch. Then, take each barrel-shaped piece of dough and gently roll it along the back side of the tines of a fork, applying just enough pressure to make a slight impression of the fork in the dough, but not enough to smush the dumpling out of shape. You can either roll all of the dumplings in the first patch and transfer them all to the water at once, or, once you get the hang of making gnocchi, you can work quickly enough to roll each dumpling off the fork and directly into the boiling water. Boil the dumplings just until they start to float – the first ones you add to the pan should start to float after about 1 minute. Use the slotted spoon or spider to remove the dumplings a few at a time as they rise to the surface, transferring them to the prepared sheet pan. Repeat with shaping the remaining dumplings, adding a little more flour to the board as needed, and boiling in 3 more batches.
- Step 5 Once all the dumplings are boiled, proceed to use them in a recipe such as Beef Ragu, or store for later. To store, arrange the dumplings in a single layer in a large shallow container lined with wax paper and keep in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. To store longer, arrange the gnocchi in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with wax paper. Transfer the baking sheet to the freezer and freeze the gnocchi uncovered until firm, then remove them from the baking sheet and pile them in a freezer-safe zip-lock bag. Freeze for up to 2 months.
