{recipe} beef and vegetable ragu with pasta

One of my kiddos' favourite meals is this slow cooked beef and vegetable ragu with penne - it is my variation of a Curtin Stone for Coles recipe from last year sometime - I thought I would share it with you since so many asked when I posted about it on facebook a while back! I have been cooking it for a year, more often in winter, and it has changed a lot from the original as I've adjusted it to suit us, and of course added more vegetables. I usually don't follow a recipe {except if I am baking!}, but just go with how I'm feeling, so writing a recipe down for you wasn't as super easy as I thought it would be {hence there aren't a lot of these kinds of recipes on the blog}. But yesterday I double checked what I wrote here and cooked this for dinner and it was delicious. :o}
Ingredients:Lean Beef Steak {I usually use a 300-400g beef round or rump steak}2-3 carrots, chopped2 stalks of celery, chopped1/2 a zucchini1 tin of tomatoes or 2-3 fresh tomatos, chopped1 onion, chopped1 clove of garlic, chopped2 tsp Italian herbs1-2 tsp paprikasalt and pepper to tastefresh parsley if you like itstock if you use it {i always just used water as I don't like store bought stock and found it to be just fine without - now I make my own}
Method:
1. Add all the chopped vegetables {onion, carrot, celery, garlic, zucchini} and the tinned or fresh tomato.2. Add the herbs and spices, we like Italian herbs and paprika and sometimes a little fresh parsley. Add some salt and pepper.3. Add some water or stock. Enough to just cover the vegetables.4. Place your beef steak {whole piece} on top of the bed of vegetables and slow cook 6-8 hours. 

5. Once cooked, remove the beef from the slow cooker - it will be very tender. Shred with a fork and set aside.6. Blend the remaining contents of the slow cooker {all those lovely vegetables + the juices they cooked in} until smooth. If it looks like there is still a lot of the stock/water, maybe leave a little out - you want the sauce to end up thick and not too soupy.7. Add the shredded beef back to the now blended sauce and serve with al dente pasta {we love it with penne or rigatoni} and steamed vegetables. Maybe a little garlic bread, too.
This is really a favourite in our house! Kids gobble it up every.single.time. I hope you like it!
Edited to add: We usually get two dinners for the four of us out of this meal - I freeze the sauce and meat together, but don't freeze any pasta as I prefer to cook this fresh on the night we have the second batch. Sometimes I will spread it out into smaller amounts that are just kid dinners - for when they're tired and life hasn't gone to plan that day - this is a sure fire dinner I know they will eat.
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