I recently posted Red Wine Braised Beef Short Ribs and mention that the leftover beef made an amazing bolognese. Well, here it is and the “recipe” is so easy.

The Pasta

You can use any pasta but I prefer Spaghetti Rigati. Rigati just means that the pasta has ridges or lines down it. You can find all kinds of pasta that are made with rigati. My absolute favorite is Bucatini Rigati, but I can’t seem to find a good fresh version near me. Bucatini Rigati is the pasta with the hole in the middle AND the ridges. Why I like the rigati so much is because it holds or absorbs the sauce so well.

The Sauce

I’ve made home made pasta sauce before. It is actually pretty easy and you can customize it to your tastes. I’ve also discovered, a lot like Gnocchi and Spaetzle, store bought pasta sauce is so good these days, it just makes sense to buy it. Forever and ever our favorite sauce was Mario Batali Arrabbiata. As most of you reading a food blog know, that guy has had some bad press. The sauce disappeared from store selves as fast as he disappeared from the public. That left us hoarding the jars when we found it, feeling guilty buying products from someone accused of some bad stuff. But the sauce is soooo gooood. When those jars were gone, we tried a few other brands, most of which were way to sweet. We finally found one that was very good, Rao’s Arrabiata and settled on that as the replacement. After a few months, a trip to our local grocery store found Little Italy Arrabiata, which looks VERY close to Mario’s. Way too close to be a coincidence. It was also in the same spot on the selves that Mario’s was. Sure enough, a little research found that the company that made Mario’s sauce was making and marketing the same sauce. WIN!

Little Italy Arrabiata Sauce

Mario Batali Arrabiata Sauce

Ingredients

• Leftover Beef Short Ribs, shredded
• 1 jar of your favorite Arrabbiata sauce
• 1 package of Spaghetti Rigati
• Olive oil
• Parmigiano Reggiano

Directions

1. In a large pasta pot, cook pasta in boiling, salted water until al denta. Drain pasta and set aside.
2. Reduce heat to medium and add oil to same pasta pot.
3. Add the shredded beef and toss in oil until warmed through.
4. Add your jar of sauce and reduce heat. Warm the sauce through.
5. Add pasta, toss and serve. Top with fresh grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.