We've paired up with Bristol's finest pasta expert, The Monday Pasta Club to create a series of pasta recipes that would do just as well as dinner party showstoppers as they would on, well, a Monday evening in.
INGREDIENTS
- 400g of beef shirt ribs, patted dry with kitchen paper
- 1 white onion, finely chopped
- 1 large carrot, finely chopped
- 1 stick of celery, finely chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 3 tbsp of tomato puree
- 150ml of Merlot
- 1 bay leaf
- 1x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
- 200ml of beef stock
- 1 tbsp of soft brown sugar
- 2 egg quantity of pasta dough
- Parmesan, to finish
- Fresh parsley, to finish
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 170C/150C fan.
Heat a large splash of oil in a large heavy bottomed frying pan over a medium-high heat. Season the short ribs well with salt and pepper. Add to the pan and fry until well browned and the beef is a dark golden brown and caramelised all over. This should take around 6-8 minutes to gain a good caramelisation over the meat. Rather than constantly moving the meat around the pan, leave it alone for a good few minutes to gain a good colour before turning and flipping to the other sides. Remove the meat from the pan once browned and add to a large casserole dish.
Turn the heat down on the pan to medium low heat. Add a generous splash of olive oil followed by the onion, carrot and celery. Fry gently for around 5 minutes or until well softened and the onion has become translucent.
Add the garlic and fry for a further minute before adding the tomato puree and frying for a further minute before pouring in red wine. Deglaze the bottom of the pan by scraping the bottom to release any extra flavour stuck to the bottom. Pour this red wine and onion mixture into the casserole dish. Add the bay, tinned tomatoes, beef stock and sugar. Season well with salt and pepper. Place into the oven for at least 4 hours or until the meat is completely falling apart and soft. The longer the better for cooking at this point.
Once the ragu has only half an hour left, start to make the pappardelle. Roll out the pasta dough to level 6 thickness on your pasta machine. Then cut the sheets to roughly 30cm long sheets. Use a pasta cutter to cut lengthways into 1 inch width pieces of pappardelle. Spread the sheets out over a chopping board and leave to dry out whilst you boil the water.
Katto Ravioli Cutter
Place a large pan of generously salted boiling water on to boil.
Whilst the water is boiling, remove the ragu from the oven. Lift out the short ribs and then remove the bones from each rib. Add the meat back into the casserole dish and mix into the sauce to break up the meat.
Place back into the oven whilst you cook the pasta.
Add the pappardelle into the boiling water and cook until al-dente, roughly 3 minutes. Drain the pasta and add to the cooked ragu. Mix well then taste to check for seasoning. Divide between 2 bowls and finish with Parmesan and some fresh parsley just before serving.
To see more of The Monday Pasta Club's recipes, check out his website or follow him on Instagram.