Spicy beef ragout

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 1 kg beef (shoulder / brisket)
• 2 onions, yellow
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 bell pepper(s), red
• 2 chili peppers, dried
• 2 tbsp clarified butter
• 3 tbsp, heaped tomato paste
• ½ liter red wine, dry
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp, heaped sugar
• 4 tbsp Balsamic vinegar of Modena
• salt and pepper
• e.g. Tabasco

Instructions

Working time approx. 40 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour 50 minutes; Total time approx. 2 hours 30 minutes

Wash the meat, pat dry, remove any tendons, and cut into 1.5-2 cm cubes. Peel and finely chop the onions and garlic. Wash the peppers, pat dry, remove the stems, quarter the flesh, and cut into strips about 5 mm thick. Grind the dried chili in a mortar or with a knife. Heat the clarified butter in a meat roasting pan until very hot. Season with salt and sear the meat in batches (about a handful). After each batch, remove the meat from the roasting pan with a slotted spoon, leaving the fat in the pan. Then add the next batch and sear. Continue cooking until the meat is completely seared and removed from the roasting pan. Sauté the onions and garlic in the fat over medium heat until translucent, add the tomato paste, and roast for 1-2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Deglaze with half of the red wine and allow the liquid to almost completely evaporate. Pour everything out of the roasting pan and set aside. Wipe the roasting pan with kitchen paper. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the roasting pan. Sprinkle in the sugar and let it caramelize slightly. Deglaze with the balsamic vinegar and stir to dissolve the caramel. Add all the previous ingredients to the roasting pan, sprinkle in the chili, pour in the remaining red wine and top up with water until all ingredients are almost covered. Bring the liquid to a boil and simmer covered over low heat for about 80 minutes. Add the pepper strips to the roasting pan and simmer covered for another 20 minutes. Season the ragout with salt and pepper, drizzle with a drizzle of olive oil and, if desired, add more Tabasco to spice it up.