Mexican slow-cooked beef pasta bake
- Preparation and cooking time
- Total time
- Easy
- Serves 6-8
Ingredients
- 1 dried ancho chilli, (see notes below)
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 onions, thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 tbsp chipotle chilli paste
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1kg beef shin, diced
- 2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
- 500ml beef stock
- 30g dark chocolate
- 500g (from the chiller cabinet) fresh fusilli pasta
- 50g manchego, grated
SALSA
- 1 avocado, diced
- 2 limes, 1 zested and juiced, 1 wedged to serve
- a small bunch coriander, leaves picked
- 1 red chilli, finely sliced
Method
- STEP 1
Put the ancho chilli into a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave to soak for 15 minutes, then drain well, discard the seeds and stalk, and chop.
- STEP 2
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large, shallow casserole dish over a medium heat and fry the onion for 5-6 minutes or until starting to soften. Add the garlic and chipotle paste, and stir fry for a couple of minutes until aromatic.
- STEP 3
Stir in the spices and beef, and fry for a minute until fragrant, then add the tomatoes, stock, chopped ancho chilli and seasoning. Gently simmer with the lid on for 3 hours-3 hours 30 minutes or until the beef is very tender. Stir every hour or so to make sure the stew doesn’t stick. If the sauce reduces too much, add a splash of water to loosen.
- STEP 4
Heat the oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. When the beef is tender, stir in the chocolate, pasta and 300ml of water. Sprinkle over the manchego and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden on top and bubbling.
- STEP 5
Mix the salsa ingredients together and spoon over the baked pasta. Serve with extra lime wedges to squeeze over.
