Chiudi

RGFE

Linguine with braised meat and tomato sauce

Cook & Prep Time

4 h 30 min

Serves

4

Linguine with braised meat and tomato sauce

A taste of an Italian grandma’s cooking to take you back to a different and slower pace of life – perfect for a Sunday lunch or an italian-style dinner party – the meat rolls are served separately after the pasta with your favourite vegetable dish or a crisp green salad.

Ingredients

  • 400g linguine
  • 1kg lean beef in one piece, or escalopes, or lean pork escalopes, you will need butcher’s twine/cooking string to roll them
  • 3 tbsp parsley, chopped finely
  • 50g sliced prosciutto crudo (raw parma harm)
  • 50ml olive oil
  • 50g lard
  • 300g onion, chopped
  • 1 or 2 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
  • 30g pork fat
  • 60g pancetta or unsmoked bacon, chopped
  • 1 litre dry red wine
  • 300g tomato passata (pureed tomatoes)
  • salt and black pepper

Directions

Step 1

First prepare the rolls of meat. If using a piece of beef, cut into escalopes, beat each escalope with a wooden rolling pin or meat beater. Sprinkle each escalope with a little parsley, then put the prosciutto crudo on the top, and season with black pepper. Roll each escalope and tie with butcher’s twine or/cooking string and put to one side.

Step 2

Heat the oil and lard in a heavy-bottomed flame-proof casserole dish at medium heat and sweat the onion, garlic, pork fat and pancetta for a few minutes until the onion is soft and the bacon is beginning to brown.

Step 3

Add the meat rolls, cover and cook at a high heat for about 5 minutes. As soon as the onions start to turn brown, uncover the dish and add the red wine.

Step 4

Continue to simmer at a low heat mixing every so often with a wooden spoon. After an hour or so, when the liquid has reduced, add a little tomato passata, mix, turn up the heat slightly and cook until the sauce become darker. Then add the rest of the passata, a little at a time. This should take about 2 hours in all.

Step 5

Add two glasses of water, mix carefully, turn the heat up to medium and cover the dish to simmer gently for another 2 hours.

Step 6

When the meat is done, take it out of the sauce and put it on a serving dish to rest in a warm place. Continue cooking the sauce until it is dark, thick and shiny.

Step 7

In the meantime, cook the linguine or your favourite pasta in a large saucepan in plenty of boiling, slightly salted water. Drain the pasta and toss it in the sauce.