Regenerative beef and pumpkin ragu

Though the most popular cuts of meat such as steaks and fillets only represent 10% of the animal, many more of the 90% remaining ‘secondary’ cuts get turned into sausages or mince, flavour-packed cuts of meat that provide value for customers and lower waste for farmers. Get creative with your mince cooking at home with this beef and pumpkin ragu from Rachel Ward.

Credit: Jiwon Kim

• serves

  4

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  20 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

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Fresh from the Farm

episode • The Cook Up with Adam Liaw • 

cooking • 

25m

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episode • The Cook Up with Adam Liaw • 

cooking • 

25m

PG

Ingredients

• ½ organic Kent pumpkin, skin-on, cut into large chunks
• 2 large organic brown onions, roughly chopped
• 1 large organic yellow capsicum, roughly chopped
• 20 g organic butter
• 2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for frying
• 4 organic garlic gloves, roughly chopped
• 500 g regenerative beef mince
• 1 - 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, to taste
• Salt and black pepper
• 80 g goat's cheese
• ¼ cup fried sage leaves, serve

Fennel and parmesan salad

• 2 bunches organic baby rocket leaves
• 1 organic fennel bulb, thinly sliced on a mandolin
• 100 g thinly shaved parmesan

Dijon dressing 

• ⅓ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 lemon, juiced and finely zested
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp honey, to taste
• ¼ cup (60 ml) extra virgin olive oil
• Sea salt, to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 200˚C. In a large baking dish, combine the pumpkin, onion, capsicum and butter and drizzle with the olive oil. Toss well to combine, then roast for 30 minutes, or until golden and tender.
   
2. 5 minutes before the vegetables finish roasting, heat a generous drizzle of oil in a large heavy-based frying pan. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute or until just fragrant. Add the beef mince and cook, breaking up with a wooden spoon until just browned. Stir through the Worcestershire with a generous pinch of salt and bring to a light simmer. Reduce the heat and stir the roasted vegetables through the beef mince. Crumble the goats’ cheese into the pan and gently mix to combine.
   
3. To make the salad, combine the ingredients for the dressing in a large mixing bowl and whisk well to combine. Taste and add more honey or salt as you prefer. Add the baby rocket and fennel to the bowl with the dressing and toss gently to combine. Top with the shaved parmesan.
   
4. Sprinkle the ragu with the fried sage leaves and serve with the salad.

Photography by Jiwon Kim.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

Stream free On Demand

Fresh from the Farm

episode • The Cook Up with Adam Liaw • 

cooking • 

25m

PG

episode • The Cook Up with Adam Liaw • 

cooking • 

25m

PG