Pasta alla Genovese
Pasta alla Genovese is a slow-cooked Neapolitan beef, onion and white wine sauce served with al dente pasta. It’s one of the single best dishes I’ve ever had and is worth every minute of TLC!
Servings: 8 medium servings
Equipment
- Dutch oven or other heavy-bottomed pot (that’s at least 4 quarts)
Ingredients
- 2 pounds paccherri, rigatoni, or ziti pasta I use rigatoni. See notes below for quantity of pasta.
- 2 ½ pounds yellow onions cut into paper thin slices
- 1 ½ - 2 pounds boneless beef chuck roast cut into 4 even-sized pieces
- 1 cup dry white wine like Italian Pinot Grigio
- 4 ounces diced pancetta
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 medium carrots peeled and finely chopped
- 2 medium celery stalks finely chopped
- 1 Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese rind
- 1 bay leaf
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Chopped Italian parsley to garnish
- Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano to garnish
Instructions
- Season the 4 pieces of beef lightly with salt and pepper. Add olive oil to a large, heavy bottomed pot (like a Dutch Oven). Preheat over medium-high heat for 5 minutes. Add beef and brown each side for 2 minutes per side.
- Remove beef and set aside on a plate. Add carrots, celery, and pancetta to the pot, and sauté for 3-4 minutes.
- Hour 1. Turn heat to low. Add 2 pieces of the beef back into the pot. Then add half of the onions to the pot. Then add the other 2 pieces of beef. Then add the rest of the onions. Cover pot and let cook on low heat for 1 hour.
- Hour 2. Shift around beef so that the bottom 2 pieces are on the top, and the top 2 pieces are on the bottom. Stir around the onions as well. You’ll notice the onions will still look quite raw. Don’t worry! Re-cover your pot and let cook for another hour over low heat.
- Hour 3. Do the same process of shifting around the meat and onions. Re-cover and let cook for another hour over low heat.
- Hour 4. Onions will still look quite raw. Add bay leaf, parmesan rind and a ½ cup wine. Make sure the bay leaf and rind are submerged in the contents of the pot. Simmer on medium-low heat, uncovered, for 1 hour.
- Use a fork and knife to remove beef from pot, place on a plate, and cut into small pieces (pieces about half of what would be considered bite-sized pieces). The beef likely won’t shred at this point; you’ll need to cut it!
- Hour 5. Place beef pieces back into pot. Add final ½ cup of wine. Simmer, uncovered, for 1 hour on medium-low heat. Stir occasionally.
- Hour 6. Remove bay leaf and rind. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Over medium heat, cook for 20-60 more minutes (uncovered), until beef is shredded and the sauce is reduced. Sauce is done when the beef is shredded and the sauce no longer looks like a soup, but there’s a decent amount of liquid left for a moist, beautiful sauce.
- Keep sauce on very low heat (covered) while boiling pasta, or until you’re ready to serve!
Video
Notes
- You will have a generous amount of sauce for 2 pounds of pasta. Feel free to use less pasta if you’d like leftover sauce.
- Peel the onions carefully to ensure you don’t create too much waste, retaining the full 2 ½ pounds of onions for the sauce.
- You don’t need a lot of carrots and celery…just enough to flavor the sauce!
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 806kcal | Carbohydrates: 101g | Protein: 39g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 13g | Cholesterol: 80mg | Sodium: 257mg | Potassium: 916mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 2639IU | Vitamin C: 12mg | Calcium: 123mg | Iron: 4mg