Beef Ragu Rigatoni
with Black Olive & Tomato Salsa
'Al dente' is one of those phrases people throw around a lot when talking about pasta, but what does it actually mean? The Italian translates as 'to the tooth' and pasta cooked perfectly 'al dente' should still have a little bit of firmness. The way to tell is by biting through a piece - have a little nibble on one of this week's rigatoni before you serve up. If you can see thin centre of white in the middle of the cooked pasta then it's spot on and time to tuck in!
Boxes and ingredients are packed in facilities that handles Peanut, Nuts, Sesame, Fish, Crustaceans, Milk, Egg, Mustard, Celery, Soya, Gluten and Sulphites. Due to the war in Ukraine, it has been necessary to substitute sunflower oil with rapeseed oil in some products without a label change. The FSA have advised that allergic reactions to rapeseed oil are rare.
Ingredients
Onion
Garlic Clove
Yellow Pepper
Basil
British Beef Mince
Dried Thyme
Tomato Puree
Tomato Passata
Beef Stock Pot
Rigatoni Pasta
(Contains Cereals containing gluten)
Pitted Black Olives
Vine Tomatoes
Grated Hard Italian Style Cheese
(Contains Milk, Egg)
Not included in your delivery
Water
Olive Oil
Nutritional information
Utensils
Instructions
Put a large saucepan of water with a generous pinch of salt on to boil for the pasta. Halve, peel and chop the onion into roughly ½cm cubes. Peel and finely grate the garlic (or use a garlic press). Halve, then remove the core from the yellow pepper, and cut into ½cm slices. Pick the basil leaves from their stalks and set aside. Finely chop the stalks. Pop your kettle on to boil.
Put a splash of oil in another large saucepan on high heat. When the oil is hot, add the beef mince and use a wooden spoon to break it up. Cook until nicely browned, 5 mins. Season with a pinch of salt and a grind of black pepper. Add the onion and pepper. Cook until soft, 5-7 mins. Stir in the garlic, dried thyme and tomato purée. Cook for 1 minute more. Add the tomato passata, stir and reduce the heat to low.
Dissolve the beef stock pot in boiling water (amount specified in the ingredient list) and add this to the pan. Bring the ragu to the boil, then lower the heat and add the chopped basil stalks. Leave to simmer for 20 mins. The ragu will reduce and thicken in this time.
Add the rigatoni to your pan of boiling water. Cook for 11 mins or until 'al dente'.TIP: ‘Al dente’ simply means the pasta is cooked through but has a tiny bit of firmness left in the middle.
While the pasta is cooking, prepare the salsa. Finely chop the black olives and chop the vine tomato into ½cm cubes. Pop them in a mixing bowl with the olive oil (amount specified in the ingredient list). Tear over half the basil leaves and mix in.
When the pasta is cooked, drain in a colander (reserve a splash of the cooking water). Taste the ragu and season with more salt and black pepper if necessary. Tear in the remaining basil leaves. Combine with the cooked pasta and mix well (add a little of the cooking water if you think it looks too dry). Serve in deep bowls, topped with the salsa and sprinkled with hard Italian cheese. Enjoy!
