Italian Pot Roast With Pasta

Delicious Italian Pot Roast with Pasta otherwise known as a Stracotto. Beef, cooked slowly with pancetta, carrots, onion, celery, garlic, sundried tomato puree on a low heat for hours in red wine and beef stock, thyme and bay leaves.

📝 Ingredients

• 3 tbsp Olive oil
• 1.24 kg Beef Joint (Chunk, Brisket, Flank, Skirt, Topside, Silverside)
• 100 gram Pancetta (Diced)
• 3 Carrots (diced small cubes)
• 1 Celery stick (diced)
• 1 Large Onion (diced )
• 1 tbsp Gia Garlic Puree (or 6 cloves of garlic, crushed.)
• 1 tbsp Gia Sundried Tomato Puree (or 2 tbsp tomato puree)
• 400 ml Red wine
• 400 ml Beef Stock
• 2 Bay leaves
• Thyme (Bunch)
• salt and pepper (To season)
• 500 gram Pasta (We used Gemelli Alluovo )
• 1 tbsp Cornstarch (mixed with 2 tbsp of water)

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 1Preheat oven to 150°C (fan)/ 300F
2. 2Add 3 tbsp of oil to a large cast-iron (hob to oven) pan on medium heat. Place beef joint in pan and sear meat on all sides, should take about 5 minutes. Transfer meat to a plate, leaving oil for the next step.
3. 3Add carrot, celery, onion and pancetta to the pan, fry on medium heat for 7 minutes
4. 4Stir in Garlic and Sundried Tomato Puree.
5. 5Add red wine and beef stock bring to the boil, turn the heat off.
6. 6Return beef to pan, season with salt & plenty of pepper add thyme & bay leaves in the sauce.
7. 7Cover and transfer to the oven. Total cook time is 2 1/2 hours. However, I recommend to baste with the sauce at each hour. So time for 1 hour, baste, 1 hour, baste, then final 30 minutes. Keep covered the whole time.
8. 8After 2 1/2 hours. Remove beef from the pan and place aside rest. Throw away the bay leaves and thyme.Try to skim as much oil as possible from the top of the leftover sauce. Add Cornstarch and water mixture into the pan and bring to the boil, turn heat to a simmer and leave to thicken, Meanwhile, cook pasta to packet instructions.
9. 9Whilst the pasta cooks and sauce thickens, slice beef into thin slices.
10. 10Serve pasta into a bowl, place sliced beef in centre and top with the delicious sauce. Add a sprinkle of parmesan and fresh thyme leaves.
11. 11Enjoy!