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Years ago, The Two Greedy Italians had a cooking series on the BBC, and in one episode, they chucked a topside of beef, pork ribs, and sausages into a big pot with tomato and basil. “Ragù alla Napoletana” they called it. We couldn’t remember the name so we dubbed it Meaty Pasta.
We thought, “we’ll have a bit of that, thanks!” and tried it. Yum. After the first attempt, we decided to make it even lazier by using our Tesco own-brand slow cooker. We learned very quickly that ribs were not suitable for slow cooking (they splintered). Enter: Ragù alla Napoletana sans ribs, aka ‘Meaty Pasta’.
Shopping list (with prices)
- Stewing steak, 400g – £4.59, from Tesco
- Four cumberland sausages – £1.79 for eight, from Tesco
- 1 brown onion – £0.21, Tesco
- 1 tablespoon of mixed Italian herbs – £1.00, from Tesco
- 1 red wine stock cube – £1.60 for four, from Tesco
- Tomato passata, 500g – £0.55, from Tesco (or you could swap this for a tin of tomatoes if you prefer a chunkier tomato in your sauce. Add a touch more stock to make up the extra 100g)
- Pinch of Pepper
- 1 teaspoon of lazy garlic – £1.90, from Tesco
- One beef stock cube, crumbled – £1.00 for 10 Tesco beef stock cubes
- Pasta, 500g – £0.75, from Tesco
Total cost = £12.41
Serves: Four adults with big appetites (with at least two leftover meals).
*Using UK Government recommended portion sizes, this recipe serves eight.
As we say in all of our cooking articles, check your cupboards before you go shopping. If you’ve tried our chicken chasseur recipe out, then you’ll already have garlic and mixed herbs. If you’ve made our budget pasta bake or lamb stew, you’ll already have stock cubes. That’s £3.90 off the total already.
You also don’t have to use rigatoni; any pasta will do. Combine the dregs of any pasta packets you’ve got laying around at the back of the cupboard.
As you can see, we have eight sausages in our pack. That means we’ve got four leftover, which is enough to give everyone a sausage if you did a BBQ for four. You can also fry them up for a breakfast sausage bap, or make a small Toad in the Hole for two. If you’re preparing Meaty Pasta as part of your batch cooking day, then you could always add all eight to this and make even more meals.
This recipe is dairy-free and if you want to keep it low carb for any diabetics in the family, you don’t have to serve each bowl with a mountain of pasta. The thick meat sauce can be served with salad or vegetables. You can also use the sauce as a dip for bread.
If your prefer things a bit spicy, add some fresh chilli, or powder or flakes. You can also try our creamy cajun chicken pasta bake… Great for a naturally spicy dinner that also pairs well with al fresco dining.
According to the UK Government, a pasta serving is 45-65g (dry weight). Using the whole 500g pack of pasta, you, theoretically, would get eight meals out of this recipe. But, we’re real people and do ‘proper’ servings. Fill that bowl up!
Method
Step 1
If the braising/stewing beef is not cubed, cut into large chunks and place into the slow cooker. If you’ve got time (or can be bothered), you can sear the meat first for a deeper flavour.
Step 2
Take the skins off the sausages, break them into pieces, then place them into the slow cooker. Again, if you can sear the sausages first – in this instance, you won’t need to de-skin them.
Step 3
Roughly chop the onion and add it to the slow cooker.
Step 4
Add all of the passata (or your tin of tomatoes), along with the red wine stock cube, one large tablespoon of mixed Italian herbs, a pinch of pepper, a teaspoon of garlic, and a tablespoon of gravy granules.
Step 5
Give the ingredients a good stir and set your slow cooker to High for 5 hours.
Step 6
If you are able to, stir the sauce at the halfway point.
When the five hours is up, you can start to break the meat up with your spoon: the meat should just fall apart and begin to look like shredded beef in no time. If not, stop, put the lid back, and cook for another hour on High.
Once you’ve got your thick meat sauce, turn the slow cooker to Keep Warm until you’re ready to begin cooking the pasta.
Step 7
When you’re ready for dinner, cook 500g of pasta following the instructions on the packet, then drain. Once drained, add the pasta to the sauce and mix until all of the pasta is coated. (Don’t worry too much if the pasta is still dripping. Starchy pasta water helps loosen the sauce, as well as help it to coat the pasta.)
Step 8
Dish it up and top with grated cheese if you would like to. To keep this recipe dairy-free, use vegan cheese.
Step 9
Enjoy!
Things to note
- There’ll be plenty leftover for a few lunches or a dinner the next day. If you bought a big pack of sausages, you can use the leftovers to make breaded sausage balls or sausage goulash.
- To change it up a bit, you could add the leftover Meaty Pasta to an oven dish, top with grated cheese, and bake. The crispy top changes the texture and tricks your brain into thinking you’re not eating the same thing two days running.
- This dish is incredibly versatile: you can pick your sausages to suit your shopping budget. Feeling flush? Italian sausages. Just note: really cheap sausages don’t break down very well when slow cooked. Aim for low-mid to mid-range.
- You can use any cut of beef you like. We use braising steak because you can leave some bigger chunks when breaking it down. You can use topside, skirt, shin, cheek, and so on. You can also use pork, lamb, turkey, or chicken – just remember these vary in fat content and poultry is generally quick to dry out in a slow cooker.
- You can also add vegetables to the sauce to bulk it out and keep the price down.
