Beef Ragout is a baked stew in which the beef is layered alternately with vegetables…..carrots, onions, garlic, and mushrooms and topped with a tomato Worcestershire sauce mixture.
We had a lot of company over Thanksgiving weekend. The first night I prepared a beautiful prime rib roast (see Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding and Roasted Potatoes), but some of my guests were delayed by a day. We had a fair bit of roast beef left over. I froze the leftovers and defrosted it this week to make this luscious ragout. You could also use Top Sirloin or a good quality stewing beef.
Beef Ragout served over rice with Turnip Souffle
Enjoy!
Beef Ragout
Print recipe| Serves | 8 - 10 |
| Inspiration | V. Morgan from the Cooking With Love (CWL) Cookbook |
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 to 3 Lb (about 1.25 kg) beef (fresh or left over roast beef) (cut into 1 inch cubes)
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 Tsp salt
- 1/2 Tsp freshly ground pepper
- 4 Tbsp olive oil
- 3 Large onions (medium dice)
- 3 carrots (peeled and cut into 1/4 inch rounds or baby finger size dice)
- 2 Cloves garlic (minced)
- 14 - 16 medium sized cremini or white mushrooms (sliced into 1/4 inch slices)
- 2 Large fresh tomatoes, diced (or one 14 oz (398 ml) tin unsalted diced tomatoes)
- 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Directions
| Mix together the flour, salt and pepper. Shake the meat in the mixture. Melt the oil in the pan. Saute the meat until it is a light brown. Set aside the meat. | |
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Add the onions and garlic to the same pan. Saute until translucent and soft (about 10 minutes), being careful not to burn. Set aside. Scrape the carrots and dice or slice.  | |
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Saute the mushrooms in the same pan, until they are soft and most of the moisture has cooked off.  | |
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Layer one half of the meat, onion, carrots and mushrooms in greased baking dish. Repeat the layers with the other half of the meat, and vegetables.  | |
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Mix the Worcestershire sauce with the diced tomatoes. Add the tomato mixture to the top of the casserole.  | |
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Cover and bake in 350 deg F oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. If the sauce is a little runny, mix 1 tbsp of cornstarch with 1/4 cup of cold water and add to the dish, stirring a little. Replace it in the oven for another 5 minutes. Serve over steamed rice.  | |
Easy Steamed Rice
| Serves | 2 |
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup uncooked rice (makes 1 cup of cooked rice)
- 1/2 Tsp salt
- 3 - 4 Cups of water or chicken, beef or vegetable broth
Directions
| Bring the water and salt to a rolling boil. Add the rice and stir it to prevent it from sticking to the bottom. Cook the rice in the boiling water for 10 minutes. | |
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Drain the rice into a strainer and then fill the bottom of the saucepan that you just used with about 2 - 3 inches of water. Place the strainer on the saucepan (ensure that the rice is not sitting in water. Cover the strainer and bring the water to a boil (steaming the rice). Cook for at least 20 minutes, but can continue to steam it until it is ready to be eaten. To increase the number of servings, just add more rice to the boiling water and follow the other steps.  | |
| Variation 1 | |
| I will often cook some onions and mushrooms in a small frying pan and add them to to the cooked rice before serving. Sometimes I just add a tablespoon of butter to the rice and stir it in. | |
| Variation 2 | |
| If you would like to cook brown rice, increase the initial cook time in the water from 10 to 14 minutes and then steam it until it is tender. | |
| Variation 3 | |
| Cook the rice in chicken, beef or vegetable broth instead of water for the first 10 minutes and then steam over water as described above. | |