"Cinnamon Girl" Sherried Beef Ragu....tossed with fusilli pasta and
topped with Greek oil cured olives

inspired by my greek mother-in-law, Eleni, loved to
throw a stick of cinnamon in all her red sauces, and
dedicated to my daughter Lena who was baptized in
her Yaya's name...........and Neil Young, because I'm
a fan;))

The thing about 'Red Sauces', I found out about living
over in Greece, is that they are never very 'heavy', the
sauce is usually, if you can imagine a 'fragrant' carrier
used to transport and infuse the spice into the
food........OR that's the way my husband's mother cooks
and simply the way I learned from her.....she always freaked
out a bit when I got heavy on the tomatoes.......so go gently
and aromatize;))

Eleni would never make this sauce in the summer.....'her'
version of it, which would be w/out the Sherry.....(these thicker
red sauces, and grant you she is from the region of Thessaly)
are really only made in the colder months, and using any meat
at all, as least in my husband's family, was a rare occurance. For
a recipe such as this, it would often consist of left over meat that was
from a different meal, then slow cooked with a tomato purree, scented
with a bay leaf and cinnamon stick and served with pilafi (pilaf)......
simple.....

Mine is a bit different......but runs along the same vein.....

This what you'll need:

1 2 lb chuck roast cut into med size pieces
1/2 cup Sherry
* place meat in bowl, toss with Sherry and
set aside for 20 min.......

Saute: (use a larger dutch oven -translation- a covered pot
that can go in the oven to slow cook)
1 large yellow onion
4 med cloves garlic (finely chopped)
1 bay leaf
4-5 T olive oil
*saute until the onions are clear (translucent) and
start to brown a little....

Deglaze:
Take ANOTHER 1/2 cup Sherry and deglaze the onions,
stirring gently to 'unstick' the brownish 'fond' (yes, a term
i learned from my brother...thanks Paul!!) from the pan
and turn heat on LOW......

Browning the meat:
Place 5-6 T olive oil in a separate pan
Let pan heat up before you place pieces of beef in, or it will
stick.......i prefer to use olive oil, rather than butter,

Cook beef until it's about 80% done, then spoon out pieces
and add to your onions, garlic, bay leaf and sherry......

To this: add 1 can crushed tomatoes.....

Then 1 stick cinnamon
And approx 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (or 4 shakes;))
And another splash of Sherry
Salt to your liking, I use sea salt
And ANOTHER 1/4 to 1/2 cup OLIVE OIL....yes that much!
2 cups water

Let simmer on stove, then cover and place in oven
on Convection Roast at 325 for 1.5 hours or until
beef is very tender and can be shredded.....add
additional water if needed while in oven, and stir
slightly, paying attention that bottom of dutch oven
doesn't burn.

For the Pasta:
Boil 1 package Fusilli
Toss with olive oil and set aside

When beef is tender.....remove from oven and
shred the pieces in the sauce with two forks...

Toss in your pasta that you've set aside.......

And top with a few oil cured olives.....

My family likes this with a greek feta on the side
and of course BREAD!!!!! Lord forgive me if i don't
have any;))

ENJOY! It's a lovely pasta dish that fills hungry boys..
I'm home cooking for my husband and son and trying
to teach my daughter how to cook while she's away
at college........I know I'll be getting a phone call from
her soon;)

warm regards,
kiki