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Want to make something extra delicious for dinner this week? Check out our favorite recipe for rigatoni with a spicy beef ragu sauce!

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This spicy beef ragu is super easy to adjust if you’ve got younger peeps joining you for dinner… just leave out the chili flakes.

TheChic_spicy-rigatoni-ingredientsPasta is a weeknight dinner staple.  It requires minimal ingredients, it’s a breeze to make, and it feeds a crowd.

This spicy meat ragu is a very substantial sauce that requires a strong pasta.  I would not suggest serving this with angel hair pasta.  If you don’t have rigatoni, pappardelle or fettuccine is also great.

Although I like my sauce spicy, not everyone agrees with me.  If you’d like to make this sauce more kid-friendly, or you want it mild- simply reduce the amount of red pepper flakes or omit it altogether.    

TheChic_mushroom-sauce-thickenerEver make a meat-tomato sauce that ends up separating?  Yes, it happens to all of us one time or another.  To prevent such mishaps, I have learned to make a bread mixture that helps keep the sauce together.  Mushrooms provide a nice meaty flavor when cooked and when mixed with the bread and milk paste, it helps to thicken the sauce while also acting as a stabilizer.  

Forget the pre-made, bottled pasta sauce.  Tonight, make something special! (Don’t forget about dessert!  This slow-cooker creme brûlée will knocks your socks off!)

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