bitnbite

I’ve been quite excited to make this recipe for some time now and last week it finally happened!

And O-M-G was it worth the wait! Literally top 5 recipes I’ve ever made

This dish was originally inspired by one of my favorite dishes at one of my favorite restaurants in San Diego, the slow cooked ragu on mascarpone polenta at Davanti Little Italy.

I’ve had this dish there a hundred times… ok maybe I’m exaggerating, but definitely somewhere close to that 😉

The flavor of slow cooked meat in a delicious tomato and red wine sauce, I mean, come on, what’s not to love?!

The next best thing to the sheer amazingness of the taste of this dish is that it’s so stinking easy to make!

Five minutes of prep, like for real 5 minutes of prep, not like 5 minutes of prep if you pretend you’re on the show Chopped and are running around your kitchen like a chicken with your head cut off.

The most difficult thing about this recipe is opening the can of tomatoes! (Seriously, why have I not upgraded to an electrical can opener at this point in my life?) And if you have an electrical can opener, then there is truly nothing difficult about this recipe whatsoever!

The slow cooker legitimately does all of the work in this recipe. Thank you nice 1995 hand-me-down crock pot, you’re my favorite kitchen appliance – just don’t tell the food processor or toaster 😉

Ingredients

1 large onion (sliced)
4 garlic cloves
2 tbsp fresh rosemary (chopped)
2 lb beef chuck roast
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 cups beef broth
¼ cup red wine
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes
12 ounces pappardelle pasta or polenta
½ cup Parmesan cheese (grated)

Add the onion and garlic cloves to the bottom of a slow cooker set to high. Sprinkle the fresh rosemary over the top.

Add the can of diced tomatoes to the crock pot.

In a medium bowl, combine the beef broth, red wine and tomato paste. Pour the mixture over the beef.

Season the beef with the salt and pepper, then add to the slow cooker.

Cook on high for 6-8 hours.

Reach a fork into the crock pot and the beef pulls right apart!

Serve it on top of creamy polenta or tossed with papparadelle pasta. Use a ladle to pour the sauce from the crock pot over the beef and polenta or pasta.

Top with fresh grated parmesan cheese.

Ser-i-ous-ly …O-M-G!

I did eat this for every meal, every day, for a week straight… ok pretty much!

The tender, flavorful beef just melts in your mouth. I tried it on polenta, with pasta and even on eggs… all three total winners!

I’m pretty much convinced that you could put this ragu on a stale cracker and the cracker would magically turn into the most delicious cracker in all of the world.

I’m begging you, make this recipe, for all that’s good in the world, you want this in your life!

I was at a big Italian family dinner last night, hosted by my favorite San Diego transplanted New York Italian family, the Morabitos and I showed Poppa Ron these photos, his response, “aww nice Italian girl.” Haha!

Yes, nice Italian girls make really delicious ragus 😉

Now I want some of Ron Jr’s amazing sausage bread to go with this ragu. That would basically be like the best thing that ever happened to the world. Let’s make this happen Ron!

♦ Gluten Free Option: This recipe is gluten free when served over polenta or with gluten free pasta. (Always make sure the beef broth used is gluten free.)

Slow Cooked Beef Ragu

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 6 hours

Serving Size: 4-6

Ingredients

1 large onion (sliced)
4 garlic cloves
2 tbsp fresh rosemary (chopped)
2 lb beef chuck roast
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 cups beef broth
¼ cup red wine
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes
12 ounces pappardelle pasta or polenta
½ cup Parmesan cheese (grated)

Instructions

Add the onion and garlic cloves to the bottom of a slow cooker set to high.
Sprinkle the fresh rosemary over the top.
Season the beef with the salt and pepper, then add to the slow cooker.
In a medium bowl, combine the beef broth, red wine and tomato paste.
Pour the mixture over the beef.
Add the can of diced tomatoes to the crock pot.
Cook on high for 6-8 hours.
Reach a fork into the crock pot and the beef pulls right apart.
Serve it on top of creamy polenta or tossed with papparadelle pasta.
Use a ladle to pour the sauce from the crock pot over the beef and polenta or pasta.
Top with fresh grated parmesan cheese.

I have declared these little bites one of the best ways to lap up zucchini this summer.

I realize that I have zero authority to declare this, but once you try these I think you will agree.

In all seriousness though, I know this is kind of a crazy recipe. Especially for summer food. Summer food is supposed to be all about light and healthy. These definitely would work nicely in the fall, especially come football season (perfect game-day food!). Lucky for us though, zucchini is here now, which gives us the perfect excuse for a little summer indulgence.

Not to mention a way to use up all that zucchini that by now your gardens are probably starting to overflow with.

Perfect. See, I am trying to make room for all the other veggies in your gardens to have room to flourish this summer.

My motto is no veggie goes to waste.

Originally when I thought of this recipe, I was thinking of making them into fried zucchini rolls, but then I tried slicing the zucchini into thin, long strips and well, I just did not have to patience for it. So, I went the easier route and sliced the zucchini into rounds.

I was pretty scared that once I put the little mac and cheese zucchini sammies into the hot oil everything would just melt all over and be a huge mess, but I was very happy to see that everything stayed pretty much intact. Yes!

I made a fresh batch of mac and cheese the night before making these, but you could use any leftover mac and cheese too. You only need about 2 cups total, so you can either use leftover, or make a fresh batch and have leftover.

Either route will work great.

All that matters is that you get some cheesy mac and cheese stuffed in between two zucchini slices, dip them in egg, and roll them all over in bread crumbs. Make sure to really get them coated in the egg and especially the bread crumbs. That’s what makes them all crispy and DELICIOUS.

Sorry, but you gotta use oil. No oven frying. For these oil really just works best. I promise the taste of these bites will be well worth the pain of dealing with hot oil.

Once they go in the oil it only takes a few minutes for you to realize just how good things are getting. Oh, and you have to eat these HOT. Like right out of the oil, it’s the best way. They are crispy on the outside, but all melty on the inside. It’s seriously the best.

No really, THE BEST.

Everyone knows that in the summer, weekends really begin after the work day on Thursday. These are just the thing to kick off a head start into the weekend. So go ahead, give them a fry!