Slow Cooked Meatball Ragù With Homemade Pasta

 This recipe came to me when I was having a creative day just sitting over Christmas and thinking of recipes. It was my first time making pasta, and I think it was a learning experience. The most important thing I learnt was to flour the pasta when putting it through the machine so it doesn't stick. Anyway the ragu and meatballs were lovely, even if the pasta needs a little work!

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, diced
• 400g of lean minced beef
• 2 cloves of smoked garlic
• 1 slice of sliced bread, chopped into breadcrumbs
• 1 egg
• Cinnamon 
• Herbs de Provance
• Worcester Sauce
• 3 tomatoes, diced
• 1 glass of red wine
• salt 
• sugar
• 500g of passata
• Fresh basil
• 300g of '00' flour
• 3 eggs
• a big glug of balsamic vinegar
• Parmesan to garnish

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 160c. 
2. Use a quarter of the onion and chop it finer as this will be added to the meatballs. Break up the beef and mince in a bowl and season. 
3. Add in the herbs de provance (enough to your liking), one clove of diced garlic, a sprinkle of cinnamon, a glug of Worcester sauce, 1 egg beaten and the breadcrumbs then scrunch all the ingredients together with your hands. Make into balls then pop into a frying pan on a medium-high heat just to seal them. Remove them from the pan and allow them to cool until needed. 
4. In a saucepan, soften the onion and garlic. Once soft, add in the diced tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes. 
5. Add in a glass of red wine, a pinch of salt and sugar and a good glug of Worcester sauce. Allow the alcohol to cook off. 
6. Now add in the passata a handful of fresh basil. Bring to the boil then transfer it to a heavy bottomed ceramic dish, pop in the meatballs, put a lid on and cook for 1 hour 30-45 minutes. 
7. Now make the pasta. In a large bowl put the flour and make a well in the center. 
8. Break the eggs and using a fork bring the flour into the egg mixture very slowly. Continue doing this until all the flour is included and a dough is being formed (finish it off with your hands). 
9. Knead it until smooth then pop it in the fridge in cling film for 30 minutes. 
10. Occasionally stir the meatball ragu. 
11. Once the pasta dough has rested divide into three then tackle each 3rd at a time. Put the dough through the fattest setting on your machine and then fold it over and put through again. Do this 8 times. 
12. Now work your way down the settings until it is the thickness desired. Pop it through the linguine section and then lay it out on a tea towel until ready to use.
13. Put the pasta in boiling water with a little olive oil and cook for 2 minutes. 
14. Remove the ragu from the oven and mix in a good glug of balsamic vinegar. 
15. Mix in some of the ragu to the drained pasta and then lay the meatballs on top. Dust with grated Parmesan.

 

Cxxx