What Baba Cooked

Pasticada is a dish that my family love. Slow cooked beef slices in a rich sweet-savoury sauce made up of red wine, sweet port, and prunes, this traditionally served at weddings and special occasions, but isn’t so daunting or complicated that you can’t make it at home. Allow a lazy Sunday, half an hour of prep, and hours of easy peasy simmering, finish with a quick blitz of the sauce and serve with warm gnocchi.

What You Need

• 2 to 3kg beef brisket or roasting silverside
• 1 bottle (750 ml) dry red wine
• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 2 carrots, roughly chopped
• 2 stalks celery, roughly chopped
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 4 bay leaves
• 6 to 8 dried prunes
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Homemade potato gnocchi

What to do:

• Marinate the beef brisket in a large bowl. Add the roughly chopped onion, carrots, and celery, and pour about 500ml of the red wine over the top until the meat is fully submerged. Cover and leave to marinate for at least an hour.
• Remove the brisket from the marinade (reserve the marinating vegetables and liquid). Pat the meat dry. Season with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pot over high heat and sear the beef brisket on all sides until well-browned. Remove the beef and set aside.
• In the same pot with some more oil, add the finely diced onion, carrot, celery, and bay leaves. Sauté over medium heat until softened and lightly caramelised, then add the vegetables that the meat marinated in. Add the tomato paste and stir through.
• Return the seared beef to the pot along with the prunes and reserved marinating liquid. Top up with a little more red wine if needed, or use whatever is left in the bottle. Season with salt and pepper. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 3 to 4 hours until the brisket is fork-tender.
• Carefully remove the tender beef brisket from the pot and let it rest briefly before slicing it into thick slices. Remove and discard the bay leaves from the pot, and use a stick blender to puree the remaining sauce ingredients until smooth and velvety.
• Return the thick slices of beef to the pureed sauce and cook gently on low for another half hour or so, until the meat absorbs all the rich flavors. Serve hot alongside freshly cooked potato gnocchi.