RICH AND DELISH BEEF SHIN RAGU

This is a powerful recipe. Get yourself down the butchers for a couple of slabs of beef shin. It isn't the most expensive because it takes a good amount of cooking to become something that is truly worth a million euros. You'll also want a belter of a vino for this. I'm using a Cabernet Sauvignon and it did the trick in a big way.

About 3 Hours Including Prep

Ingredients

(To Serve 4)

A Large White Onion
2 Medium Sized Carrots
A Stick of Celery
4-5 Cloves of Garlic
Tablespoon Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
2-3 Large Beef Shins
Teaspoon of Chilli Flakes
Tablespoon of Tomato Purée
500ml Good Red Wine
400ml Beef Stock
400g Tomato Passata
As much Parmesan as you like
The Rind of aforementioned Parmesan
A Sprig of Rosemary
A Handful of Cherry Tomatoes
250g-350g Mafaldine/Pappardelle Pasta

Ingredients

Instructions

Pour yourself a nice glass of wine and preheat the oven to 140ºC. If you're not able to enjoy the wine you're cooking with, you shouldn't be cooking with it (if you can avoid it). Get a heavy bottomed oven proof pan/dutch oven (you can even use a slow cooker) nice and hot. Finely dice your onion and celery. Use a box grater to grate your carrot and garlic. It's just easier. Set this aside.
Get your beefy shins out and season them heavily with salt and pepper. Sear them in your hot pan with a splash of olive oil for a few minutes on both sides and then pop them on a plate. You will notice some crusty business on the bottom of the pan. This is intense flavour and must remain there. I read a recipe before that said get rid of it, clearly written by a stupid idiot. Add your celery, onion and carrot to this residual yummy muck and oil and soften a little. Season with black pepper and a few chilli flakes. When all of that is softened you can add your garlic and then a bit of tomato purée. Stir this in.
It's wine time. Time to get things a little wetter. Add your red wine, followed by your beef stock, then your passata. Cut the rind off your parmesan and throw that in with a sprig of rosemary. The rosemary will impart a lovely flavour, as will the rind. The rind also sort of melts and makes the sauce extra silky once reduced. Add a handful of tomatoes and then pop your shins back in to be submerged in the beautiful liquid. Pop the lid on your pot and stick it in the oven for no longer than 2 hours and 32 minutes, but no less than 2 hours and 14 minutes.
After the long and worthwhile wait, take your pot out and get it back on the heat. A high heat. For about 20 minutes. You want the sauce to reduce and thicken a bit. During the latter part of this time you can get a large pan of water boiling away and add a good load of salt. It needs to be as salty as the sea. Cook your pasta for about 7 minutes, you don't want it properly cooked as we will add it to our sauce for a while to finish. The two varieties of pasta that I have recommended are perfect for holding the sauciness and flavour of this ragu, and worth trying to get your hands on, but honestly use whatever you want or have.
As the pasta begins to cook you can remove the bones from the ragu as it bubbles away. The marrow should have fallen out, which only makes the sauce more delicious. Use two forks to shred your meat and attempt to remove the rosemary stalk. It should pull away nicely but I quite like a few larger bits. You do you.
When your sauce has reduced a bit, drain the pasta and add it to the sauciness. Stir it through and get it all nice and coated. Grate in a good load of parmesan and mix. Serve in a bowl with extra parmesan and try not to fall off your chair from how tasty it is. Maybe wear a seat belt.