Slow Cooked Oxtail Ragu

Ingredients

• 500ml hot beef stock
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 2 celery sticks, sliced
• 400g canned chopped tomatoes
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• sea salt and black pepper, to season
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 3 thyme sprigs
• 300ml red wine
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1.5kg oxtail, cut into joints
• 2 bay leaves
• 400g pappardelle
• 15g fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
• Crusty sourdough bread, to serve
• Parmesan, freshly grated, to serve
• Simple green salad, to serve

Method

1. Pat the oxtail joints dry and season generously with salt and pepper — water means steam, and steam means no browning. Heat the olive oil in a heavy stainless or cast-iron pan over a medium-high heat until it shimmers, then brown the oxtail in two or three batches, 3–4 minutes a side, until every face is deeply mahogany. Don't crowd the pan — all at once and the meat boils in its own juices instead of caramelising. Transfer to the slow cooker as each batch is done.
2. Drop the heat to medium and tip the onion, carrot and celery into the same pan with all that fond. Cook for about 8 minutes, stirring now and then, until softened and starting to catch at the edges. 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 burn or the whole base turns bitter.
3. Pour in the red wine and let it bubble hard for 2 minutes, scraping up every sticky brown bit from the base of the pan. That fond is the backbone of the sauce — leave none of it behind.
4. Tip the contents of the pan into the slow cooker. Add the chopped tomatoes, red lentils, hot beef stock, bay leaves and thyme — the stock and wine are what break the tinned tomatoes down over the long cook so they taste of fruit, not metal. Stir once to settle everything around the oxtail, cover, and cook on low for 8 hours (or high for 4) until the meat is falling from the bone and the sauce is glossy and deeply reduced.
5. Lift the oxtail pieces onto a board. Shred the meat with two forks, discarding bones, sinew and excess fat, and return the meat to the sauce. Fish out the bay and thyme stalks. Taste, season, taste again — it should be rich, savoury and faintly sweet from the long cook. Adjust now, not at the table. If the ragu feels loose, simmer uncovered on high for 20–30 minutes until thick and clingy to the spoon.
6. Bring a large pan of water to a rolling boil and salt it generously — it should taste like the sea. This is your only chance to season the pasta itself. Cook the pappardelle to al dente per the packet, then drain, reserving a mugful of the cooking water.
7. Tip the pasta into the ragu and toss to coat, loosening with a splash of pasta water if needed so every ribbon is glossy. The acid from the wine and tomatoes has had eight hours to mellow — taste once more and adjust the salt before plating.
8. Pile the pappardelle and ragu into warmed bowls, scatter over the chopped parsley, shower with freshly grated Parmesan, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, and serve the green salad alongside.