Rigatoni with Beef

If you boil the pasta while you prepare the sauce, this morning dish of rigatoni with beef takes no more than half an hour. For the sauce take lean beef, a shallot or a regular onion, and a few juicy vegetables. Celery stalks are best, but even sweet pepper will do. For the tomato you can use canned tomato pulp or ordinary good-quality tomato juice.

Peel and finely chop the onion and celery. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and fry the crushed garlic cloves in it. When the garlic starts to darken, discard it. Fry the onion and celery in the flavored oil until soft. While the vegetables are frying, grind the beef in a meat grinder. Add the ground meat to the vegetables.

Salt the meat, add 1 tsp of sugar (5 g), and dried oregano and a dried Italian herb mix to taste; very good mixes are available in shops. Over medium heat, stirring and breaking up lumps, fry the meat for 10 mins. The mixture should be uniform. The meat releases juice almost immediately, which evaporates, and then the meat starts to brown.

Add the tomato to the meat. If you use tomato pulp, half a can is enough; mash the tomatoes with your hands or a fork. Tomato juice works very well too, and it is simpler and easier to find. Braise the sauce under a lid for 5 mins, then remove the lid and cook over medium heat until the sauce is as thick as sour cream. If you like, add a little chili to make the rigatoni with beef a bit spicier.

While the sauce simmers, boil the pasta in salted water. Cook the pasta until al dente; the time on the package guarantees that. Drain the cooked pasta in a colander, then mix it with the finished sauce. The large rigatoni tubes hold the sauce well and fill up with it.

Divide the pasta with beef among plates; you can sprinkle with a pinch of finely chopped herbs. Serve hot. Pasta with meat is filling enough that you will not feel hungry until lunch, which is why it is great for breakfast. If you like, sprinkle with grated Parmesan, which makes it even tastier.

If you have time, you can add grated carrot to the sauce, though it will take longer to cook. Wine, milk and basil are also often added to sauces like this, which improves the flavor considerably. Instead of rigatoni, any pasta in large tubes will do, such as tortiglioni or paccheri. If you make the sauce thicker, it works very well for a “quick” lasagna.