Recipe - Short Rib Ragu with Pappardelle

Maybe you've got a free night, or maybe you're trying to impress a partner, or maybe you're even just trying to impress yourself.

Either way, slow-cooked beef ragu is a wonderful winter warmer and can hopefully turn even the frowniest of frowns upside down.

Play this while cooking:

'Measurements are always in the eye of the beholder'

Ingredients:

• Beef short ribs (however hungry you feel is the amount you should always go for)

• 2 large carrots

• 2 large onions

• 5-6 celery sticks

• 2 tsp tomato paste

• 500ml beef stock (cube, liquid, homemade, whatever your heart and wallet desires)

• Red wine (use a wine you'd also be happy to drink)

• 2 cans of whole peeled tinned tomatoes

• 4 bay leaves

• 4 sprigs of rosemary

• 2 sprigs of thyme

• 500ml of water

• Sprinkle of nutmeg

• Parmesan rind

• Pappardelle (or pasta shape of your choosing, dinosaurs maybe?)

• Sharp aged cheese for grating on top

• Salt

• Pepper

• Olive oil

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Heat up a large cast iron pot, preferably the same pot you will be cooking the ragu in. Pour in olive oil, enough to coat the bottom of the pot/pan. Before browning off your short ribs, make sure they have been patted dry and liberally seasoned with salt and pepper. If you have the time, let them hang out in the fridge to let the salt and pepper penetrate the meat. If not, place the short ribs fat side down and render off the fat caps until they are golden and brown. Rotate so each side is browned and brimming with flavour, allowing a crust to build up while leaving a lovely fond in the bottom of the pan.

While the short ribs are rendering, or before they start cooking, prepare your mirepoix: chop the onion, carrot, and celery. Use whatever colour onion you want, what's in the pantry, or what's in the backyard. When diced, transfer them to the pot where the short rib fat juices are hanging out having a grand old time. Mix the vegetable medley through to evenly coat for a better cook. When softened and slightly browned, add in tomato paste to your liking. When mixed through and caramelised, add your red wine in with a generous neglect for the rules. More the merrier, I say. In the same motion, pour yourself a glass and enjoy because your work is almost done.

Add in your whole tinned tomatoes, crushing them with your wooden spoon until they are incorporated. After they cook through, place back in your short ribs and fill the pot up with extra water you've washed in the tomato tin to extract all the good residue left over. Put in herbs available to you. I went for bay leaves, rosemary, and thyme. If you have cooking string, I'd recommend this to make it easier to fish it out. Add a parmesan rind and some grated nutmeg if available. Bring to a low simmer and put the lid on. Glass of wine in hand, set a timer for 2-3 hours, or at least until the short ribs are tender and falling off the bone.

2, 3, maybe 4 hours have gone by depending on the size and amount of your short ribs. Your house smells amazing and that cheese board you had in the interim feels like a long-forgotten memory. Time to shred. Pull your short ribs out and shred the meat to the chunkiness of your liking. Before returning the shredded meat to the pot, fish out the herbs that have infused into the saucy, savory ragu. I'm not going to explain how to boil pasta, so you can navigate yourself through the mystery and intrigue of how I got my ragu on top of al dente pappardelle.

This was enjoyed delightfully in front of the TV while watching Arrival, which is a devastating sci-fi classic by Denis Villeneuve. However, by any means, feel free to enjoy this in any way you see fit. Outside, alone, maybe outside and not alone, the world is simply your oyster, or your short rib ragu with pappardelle.