Recipe: Pot Roast Pasta Sauce (Stracotto)

POT ROAST PASTA SAUCE (STRACOTTO)

"A stracotto is actually a stew, long simmered to concentrate the juices of meat into a dense flavor. When spooned over tubular pasta, the bits of meat that have not disintegrated nestle into the cavities. Over flat noodles, the full-flavored sauce will cling to the tender ribbons."

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds beef bottom round roast
1 1/2 cups chopped onions
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
4 cloves garlic, slivered
1 cup beef broth
1 (28 oz) can tomatoes, drained
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tsp minced garlic, divided use
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup dry red wine
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 pound penne pasta, uncooked

Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add the pot roast and brown on all sides. Remove the meat from the pan, and set aside.

Add the onions, carrots, celery, and slivered garlic and saute until soft, 10 minutes. Remove the vegetables and set aside.

Set a rack in the bottom of the pot and place the roast on top. Pour the beef broth into the pot. Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Remove roast from the pot and cut meat into 1/4-inch-thick slices (they will be quite rare). Return slices to the pot layering them evenly.

Crush tomatoes slightly and add them to pot with the tomato paste, 1 teaspoon minced garlic, pepper, salt, thyme, bay leaf, red wine, and reserved vegetables. Bring to boil.

Transfer to the oven and bake, covered, until the meat falls apart, around 1 1/2 hours.

Remove the meat and bay leaf from pot and allow to cool slightly. Shred the meat and return to the pot. Add the parsley and heat through.

Cook pasta according to directions; drain.

Serve the stracotto (beef sauce) over the pasta.

Makes 6 servings
Source: The New Basics Cookbook by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins