Rich Beef Ragu with Pappardelle

Ingredients

• 1000 g beef cheeks or beef shin, in large pieces
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 200 ml beef stock
• 3 carrots, finely diced
• 3 celery stalks, finely diced
• 2 x 400g tins whole plum tomatoes
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 2 medium onions, finely diced
• 6 fresh thyme sprigs
• 250 ml dry red wine
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 parmesan rind
• 400 g dried pappardelle, to serve
• parmesan, grated, to serve
• Crusty ciabatta, to serve

Method

1. Heat the oven to 150°C fan. Pat the beef dry with kitchen paper — water means steam, and steam means no browning — then season generously all over with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a large ovenproof casserole over a high heat until it shimmers.
2. Brown the beef in two or three batches, 4 minutes per side, until each piece has a deep mahogany crust. Don't crowd the pan — all at once and the meat steams in its own liquid instead of building the fond that flavours the whole ragu. Lift each batch out onto a plate.
3. Drop the heat to medium. Tip in the onions, carrots, and celery with a pinch of salt and cook for 10 minutes, stirring regularly, until softened, glossy, and starting to turn golden at the edges. The salt pulls the water out and gets the vegetables sweetening rather than stewing.
4. Add the garlic and tomato purée. Stir and cook for 90 seconds — just until the garlic is fragrant and the purée has darkened a shade against the vegetables. Don't let the garlic catch; burnt garlic turns the whole pot bitter and there's no rescuing it from a 3-hour braise.
5. Pour in the red wine and turn the heat up. Scrape the brown stuck bits off the base with a wooden spoon — that's pure flavour dissolving back into the sauce. Let the wine bubble hard for 4 minutes until reduced by half and the sharp alcohol smell has gone.
6. Add the plum tomatoes, crushing them roughly in your hand as they go in. Pour in the beef stock — this is your break-down liquid, and without it the tomatoes taste of heated tin rather than slow-cooked fruit. Stir in the red lentils, thyme, bay leaves, and parmesan rind.
7. Return the beef and any resting juices to the pot, pressing the pieces down into the sauce. Bring to a gentle simmer on the hob, cover tightly, and slide into the oven. Braise for 3–3.5 hours, until a fork twists through the beef with no resistance and the strands fall apart on their own.
8. Lift the beef onto a board and shred into rough, generous strands with two forks. Fish out the thyme stalks, bay leaves, and parmesan rind. Stir the beef back through the sauce — it should be glossy and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Taste, season, taste again. The ragu needs proper salt to sing — adjust now, not at the table.
9. Salt the pasta water generously — it should taste like the sea. This is your only chance to season the pasta itself. Cook the pappardelle until al dente, then scoop out a mugful of starchy water before draining.
10. Tip the pappardelle into the ragu and toss over a low heat, loosening with splashes of pasta water until every ribbon is coated. Plate into warm bowls, snow over the grated parmesan, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, and scatter the torn basil.