Cooking time: 4 hours 45 minutes
Serving size: Serves 6
Oven temperature: 150°C (fan)
INGREDIENTS
1 kg beef shin
3 medium onions
3 sticks celery
2 large carrots
6 cloves garlic (peeled and crushed)
2 cups (500ml) red wine
¾ cups (180ml) hot beef stock
8 dried bay leaves (or 4 large, fresh bay leaves)
1 Tbsp tomato purée
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
400ml passata
3 Tbsp neutral oil (sunflower/rapeseed oil)
Fresh pappardelle pasta (or dried, but fresh is better if possible)
30g freshly grated parmesan
1 Tbsp fresh chopped parsley (for garnish)
METHOD
1.) Preheat the oven to 150°C (fan).
2.) Add 2 Tbsp neutral oil to a cast iron pan/wok and brown all the lamb on a medium/high heat so that it has a nice browned colour to it. 2-3 minutes on each side should be a good time to aim for. Remove the lamb from the pan and set aside.
3.) Chop the mirepoix (a french flavour base consisting of onions, celery and carrots), into 1 cm cubes. In a deep casserole dish (think Le Crueset style) or an ovenproof pot, add 3 Tbsp neutral oil to the pot and gently cook the vegetables until the onions are translucent and the celery and carrots are soft.
4.) Add the crushed garlic and the tomato purée to the pan and cook for a further 2-3 minutes or until the tomato purée changes from a bright red to a browner colour, almost maroon.
5.) Add the hot beef stock, red wine, balsamic vinegar, bay leaves, and passata and turn up the heat so that the liquid comes to a boil and then add the lamb back to the pot.
6.) Place a lid on the casserole dish/pot and then place into the oven, stirring the mixture every hour for four hours. Every time you remove the ragù from the oven you should notice the liquid getting thicker and thicker and the meat getting softer and softer. After the 4th stir, leave the pot in the oven for a further 30 minutes before removing.
7.) Remove the pot from the oven and shred the beef with two forks. I often find it easier at this stage to ladle the mixture onto a pasta plate and do this in batches. The meat should be soft enough so that you can shred it simply by pushing down on it with the fork.
8.) Bring a heavily salted pot of water to the boil and cook the fresh pappardelle for 4-6 minutes or until cooked. Pappardelle is the best pasta to use for this recipe as it gathers up the perfect amount of ragù in the silky folds of pasta for the ideal mouthful of deliciousness.
9.) Use tongs to transfer the pasta to the pot of ragù, adding ¼ to ½ cup of pasta water to ensure that the ragù is liquid enough to coat all the pasta. Don't add too much water though as the ragù is meant to be quite a thick and meaty sauce.
10.) Serve the ragù with grated parmesan and a sprinkle of freshly chopped parsley.
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