Beef and Mushroom Ragu with Mafaldine

This recipe came from the magazine called Real Simple, and it really is simple! I am still trying to cut out the carbs and dairy, but of course I have to splurge a little now and then. I am down 9.5 lbs and I am not looking back, just continuing to work out and eat better. I ended up having some pizza this week too as we had a going away lunch for a friend who got a new job. I was bummed, so nothing like some carbs and cheese to ease the pain right?

So lets get cooking already, here is the recipe...



I looked EVERYWHERE for Pappardelle pasta. I even went to an Italian deli/market and they didn't have any. I finally saw that Trader Joes sells it, so off I went...to find a bare shelf. The stuff must be popular.


So I settled for a pasta called Mafaldine, which means little queens. You also need some tomatoes (I grabbed a can of delicious San Marzanos at the Italian market), tomato paste, ground beef, garlic, white wine, onion, and mushrooms. Get some water boiling and lets get prepping.


The mushrooms were sliced but I gave them a rough chop.


Chop up the onion


Chop your garlic


Get everything near the stove so you have all your ingredients on hand and you are not scrambling.


Get the mushrooms, onions and garlic in a skillet with some olive oil and let them cook for about 7 minutes. Drop in your pasta at this point also.


Once the onions are soft add in the beef and break it up with your spoon. Cook until it is no longer pink.


It is getting hot and steamy around here! Add in the tomato paste and let it cook for a minute while you stir. I see a lot of recipes call for cooking the tomato paste on its own for a minute, does anyone know why? I googled and saw something about reducing the acidity but I could not find much.


Add in the wine and let this incorporate for about a minute.


Add in the tomatoes and let this cook for another 4-5 minutes and you are ready to eat. You might be looking at this pan and saying wow that is a lot of sauce for one person...but here is the shocker, Tom requested this! He looked over as I was looking at the magazine and saw the picture and was like, I want that!


Can you see why he was excited about this recipe? It was super tasty and filling and now I have some extra sauce to put in the freezer for when he wants this again. If you want to lighten it up a bit you can use ground chicken or turkey. For now I am back to ignoring my pasta drawer and focusing on my waist line.

Have a great week!!