Slow Cooked Beef Shin Ragu with Pappardelle

Ingredients

• 1.2kg beef shin, cut into large chunks
• 400ml beef stock
• 2 carrots, roughly chopped
• 2 celery stalks, roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 800g tinned chopped tomatoes
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 2 large onions, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 150ml red wine
• 1½ tsp sea salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 bay leaves
• 400g pappardelle
• 60g Parmesan, freshly grated (for serving)
• Crusty sourdough bread, to serve
• Rocket and Parmesan salad, to serve
• Ciabatta, to serve

Method

1. Pat the beef shin dry and season generously with salt and pepper on every side — water means steam, and steam means no browning. Heat the olive oil in a heavy frying pan or cast iron over medium-high until it shimmers.
2. Brown the beef in three batches, leaving space around each piece. Don't crowd the pan — all at once and the meat sweats, water comes out, and you've boiled it instead of building that deep mahogany crust. Each batch wants 6–8 minutes for a proper sear on all sides. Transfer to the slow cooker as you go.
3. Drop the heat to medium and add the onions, carrots and celery to the same pan with all those caramelised stuck bits. Cook for 8–10 minutes until softened, translucent and just starting to catch at the edges, scraping the fond up as the vegetables release their moisture.
4. Stir in the garlic and tomato purée and cook for just 30–60 seconds until fragrant and the purée darkens a shade — watch the garlic, don't let it go past pale gold. Burnt garlic turns the whole ragu bitter and there's no rescuing it.
5. Pour the red wine into the pan and let it bubble fiercely for 2 minutes, scraping every brown scrap off the base — that fond is the backbone of the sauce. Tip the lot into the slow cooker with the beef.
6. Add the chopped tomatoes, beef stock, lentils, bay leaves and thyme. The stock and wine are doing serious work here — they break the tinned tomatoes down over the long cook so they taste of summer fruit, not tin. Stir, cover, and cook on low for 8 hours until the beef collapses under a fork.
7. Lift the meat onto a board and shred with two forks — it should pull apart with no resistance. Skim any excess fat from the surface, return the meat to the pot and stir through. Taste, season, taste again. Adjust now — at the end, not at the table. If the sauce is loose, simmer a few ladles in a wide pan on the hob for 10–15 minutes until it coats the back of a spoon, then stir back in.
8. Salt the pasta water generously — it should taste like the sea. This is your only chance to season the pappardelle itself. Cook until just al dente, then drain, reserving a mugful of the starchy water.
9. Toss the pappardelle through several generous ladles of ragu, loosening with splashes of pasta water until every ribbon is glossy and thoroughly coated.
10. Pile onto warmed plates, spoon extra shredded beef over the top, and shower with the grated Parmesan and chopped parsley. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and serve alongside the rocket and Parmesan salad with torn ciabatta for mopping the bowl.