This mushroom-flavoured beef ragù was one of my favourite food from my childhood days. I used to ate it with spaghetti (and still do, sometime, though I prefer wide ribbon pasta with it now, such as tagliatelle). However, I found that the best place to use this ragù is to replace the meat sauce in a typical lasagne dish. Its slightly sweet and sour flavour really fits a lasagne.
Makes approx. 900 g
- 500 g minced beef
- 1 heaping cup (~250 g) Prego fresh mushroom flavoured sauce
- 1 medium onion
- 1 medium carrots
- 1 fresh tomato (or canned tomato)
- 2-3 tbsp margarine
- Tomato sauce (to taste)
- 2 tbsp sugar
- freshly-ground nutmeg
- Salt and pepper (to taste)
- 3 cups water
- Slice the onion into small (approx.) 0.5 cm x 2 cm slices. Dice the carrots into small, scant 0.5 cm cubes. Dice the tomato.
- Heat the margarine in a large wok and fry the onion. When the onions are turning soft, add the carrots and fry until onion is golden.
- Add the minced beef and fry until cooked, ensuring that there is no big lump of meat.
- Mix in the Prego sauce and water. Add tomato sauce, salt, pepper, nutmeg and sugar. Add the tomato cubes. Mix thoroughly.
- Simmer until the water is reduced (but still wet), stirring occasionally. Taste the ragù and adjust the amount of tomato sauce, salt, pepper, and sugar as necessary.
- Continue simmering until most of the water has been reduced, stirring more often to prevent the ragù from burning. (If cooking the ragù for lasagne, leave the ragù just slightly wetter.)
The right flavour for this ragù should have a hint (how much will depend on your palate) of sweetness and sourness. Use generous amount of sugar and tomato sauce to adjust the sweetness and sourness.
Acknowledgment: This is an original recipe adapted from my mom’s recipe.
