Pasta is my comfort food, so when Ninja asked me to create an autumn comfort meal using the 8-in-1 Foodie Possible cooker, I knew it had to be pasta-based as that’s the equivalent of a big cosy hug in a bowl for me.
What you might not realise is that there are recommendations for red meat intakes, with health bodies recommending no more than 70g cooked weight per day, or 350-500g cooked weight per week if you eat red meat. So, is it possible to make a meat sauce which complies with these guidelines whilst still making it taste delicious? Absolutely! And here is my Short Rib Ragu which has all the rich flavour of the meat, but is cleverly padded out with plant-based protein from lentils. This additionally provides extra fibre (resulting in 11g of fibre per serving with pasta) as well as making it more sustainable through the use of plant-based proteins.
This recipe also makes a whopping 15 portions, which is great for a big get together, but also perfect for batch cooking and freezing down so you can have easy meals on hand when you need them in the future. Store in Tupperware or freezer bags in suitable portion sizes for up to 6 months, keeping you going throughout all these dark nights!
Makes 15 portions
Ingredients
- 1kg short ribs, excess fat trimmed off
- 3 large onions (350g), diced
- 4 large carrots (380g), diced
- 3 sticks of celery (200g), diced
- 250g mushrooms, diced
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 10 sprigs of thyme
- 10 sprigs of oregano
- 3 sprigs of rosemary
- 4 bay leaves
- 10g of sage leaves, roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp tomato puree
- 1 beef stock cube
- 100g red lentils
- 100g brown lentils
- 100g green (puy) lentils
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes
- 350ml red wine
- 10g dried porcini mushrooms
- 1 parmesan rind
- 20g basil
To serve
- 15 portions of cooked pasta
- 150g parmesan
- Extra basil
Method
- Set your Ninja Foodi Possible Cooker* to Saute High setting and brown the short ribs on each side for around 12 minutes. Remove from the pan.
- Add the onions, carrots, celery, mushrooms, and olive oil to the same pan and cook for 10 minutes until soft, then add the garlic and cook for a further 5 minutes.
- Return the ribs to the pan along with the herbs, tomato puree, crumbled stock cube, lentils, tomatoes, and red wine, topping up with water until the pan is full. Add your optional flavour enhancers of dried porcini mushrooms and parmesan rind. Set your Foodi Possible Cooker to Slow Cook on High for 6 hours, covering with the lid.
- After 5-6 hours the meat should be extremely tender and falling off the bone. Remove the ribs from the pan and separate the meat from the bone before shredding. Remove the herb stems and parmesan rind before returning the shredded meat to the pan with the basil.
- Serve with freshly cooked pasta, using a little of the pasta water to loosen the ragu if needed, and serve topped with parmesan and extra basil.
Per serving: 622kcal/ 15g fat/ 6.0g saturated fat/ 84g carbohydrates/ 11g fibre/ 32g protein
*Gifted product
Dr Pippa 