Ferretti with beef ragu

Hailing from southern Italy, ferretti is a cylindrical pasta traditionally made by rolling dough around a long, thin rod. Here, the handmade pasta is served with a rich, slow-cooked beef ragu.

• serves

  6

• prep

  35 minutes

• cook

  2:30 hours

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp chopped pancetta
• 750 g beef shin, diced
• 250 g diced pork belly
• 2 tsp salt
• 1.5 kg onions, chopped (can use a mixture of red and brown onion)
• ½ cup diced celery
• ½ cup diced carrot
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• Heaped tbsp tomato paste
• 1 bay leaf
• ⅔ cup white wine
• 2 tbsp freshly chopped parsley
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh marjoram, plus a little extra to garnish
• 500 g good quality dry pasta, if not making homemade pasta
• Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, to serve

No-egg pasta dough

• 250 g semolina flour
• 250 g plain (all-purpose) flour
• ½ tsp salt
• 200 ml water

Instructions

1. For the Beef Ragu: Preheat oven to 150° Celsius.
2. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Cook pancetta until most of the fat is rendered out, about 6 minutes. Remove cooked pancetta with a slotted spoon and set aside.
3. Increase heat to high and transfer the beef shin and pork belly to the pot. Season with salt. Cook and stir until the liquid releases from the beef and begins to evaporate, and meat browns, 10 to 15 minutes.
4. Reduce heat to medium-high. Add onions, celery, carrot, reserved cooked pancetta, salt and pepper. Cook and stir about 5 minutes.
5. Add a heaped tbsp of tomato paste, bay leaf and white wine. Cook and stir, scraping up browned ingredients from the bottom of the pan, for 2 to 3 minutes.
6. Place lid on and cook for 2 hours in pre-heated oven. Check every 30 minutes. If sauce seems to reduce too much, add water or broth as needed to maintain a sauce-like consistency. Cook until beef and onions seem to melt into each other. Stir in 50 ml of milk.
7. Meanwhile, for the no-egg pasta dough: Combine all dough ingredients in a food processor and pulse until a ball forms. Add a little extra water if dry. Remove, form a rough ball, and rest for 10 minutes. Hand-mixing is an alternative for better results.
8. To roll pasta, take a thumb-sized piece, place it on a wooden skewer, and roll back and forth to create a 5 cm (2-inch) cylinder (ferretti pasta). Set aside. Alternatively, make orecchiette by pressing a small ball with your thumb to create an indent.
9. To Assemble: Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook your chosen pasta (dry or homemade) in the boiling water, stirring occasionally until just barely al dente, 10 to 12 minutes for dry pasta, or until cooked for homemade. Drain.
10. Add pasta to the sauce and cook until heated through; you may need a little pasta water to finish cooking the pasta.
11. At this point add 2 tbsp of olive oil and a small handful of parmesan and mix very well. This will create a silky consistency.
12. Serve topped with a pinch of marjoram and freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.