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Pappardelle With Slow-Cooked Ragù

This delicious slowed-cooked ragù is made with beef brisket and pork ribs. Throughout the cooking process, these simple ingredients take on the rich, deep flavours of red wine, bay and rosemary. This unctuous, rich sauce is serves with ribbons of pappardelle pasta - it's ideal for a dinner party or a weeknight dinner. This is a great batch-cooking recipe, so keep a few portions in the freezer.

15 minutes prep, 4 hours, 30 minutes cook

Serves 8–10

Ingredients

750g piece of beef brisket

500g pork ribs on the bone

1 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil

3 celery sticks, finely chopped

2 onions, finely chopped

2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped

6 garlic cloves, peeled

3 fresh bay leaves

2 sprigs of rosemary

400ml red wine

500ml good quality beef or veal stock

4 tbsp tomato purée

1 x 400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

Sea salt and black pepper

To serve:

Pappardelle (allow 100g dried per person)

Freshly grated Parmesan

Chopped flat-leaf parsley

Method

Preheat the oven to 160°C/Fan 140°C/Gas 3. Cut the brisket into large chunks and keep the pork ribs in pieces as large as possible. Season the meat all over.

Place a casserole dish on medium heat. Sear the beef in batches on all sides until golden brown, then place on a plate.

Add the celery, onions and carrots to the casserole and sauté for 5 minutes, then add the cloves of garlic and herbs. Cook for a further 5 minutes or until all the water has been cooked out of the vegetables. Add the meat back to the casserole.

Turn the heat up, add the wine and allow it to bubble away for a minute, then add the stock and tomato purée. If the meat isn't entirely submerged in liquid, add a little water to cover.

Stir, place a piece of baking parchment directly on top of the beef ragù, then cover with a tight-fitting lid and cook in the oven for 3 hours.

Add the chickpeas and put back in the oven for a further 1 hour until the beef ragù is thickened and the meat is falling off the bone.

Carefully remove the bones and gently shred the meat into the sauce, then give everything a good stir. Serve with pappardelle pasta, Parmesan and a sprinkling of chopped parsley. You could also serve up some crusty bread to mop up the beef ragu juices!