Below is my ragu recipe. It’s evolved over the years, and takes some time, but trust me when I say it’s worth it. Enjoy.

500g of chuck steak diced into 1cm cubes
500g of gravy beef diced into 1cm cubes
1 onion diced
3 stalks of celery diced finely
2 medium carrots diced finely
5 cloves of garlic diced finely

Sweat the veges off for 5 – 10 minutes in a big heavy bottomed pot on a medium high heat being careful not to burn. Brown the meat in batches separately and add to the veges.

Then add:
3 – 5 teaspoons of salt
Loads of freshly ground black pepper
Half teaspoon of cayenne pepper
Half teaspoon of paprika
Half teaspoon of chilli flakes
Quarter teaspoon of ground cloves
4 tablespoons of tomato paste
Bouquet Garni (4 bay leaves, 2 whole star anise, ½ a cinnamon stick, fresh oregano)

Stir all that about for a bit to ensure that the spices and tomato paste are cooked through. Then add:

1 glasses of white wine and reduce.
½ cup of milk and reduce

Then add:

1 or 2 tins of canned diced or crushed tomatoes
750ml of chicken broth

Bring to the boil then reduce to a very gentle simmer for about 2 hours. If it looks too dry add more stock or water, and if it looks to wet, take the lid off and turn up heat for a while. At this time (and this sounds weird, but trust me it’s the “secret”) get a potato masher and “mash” the stew. The beef will literally disintegrate and shred to a beautiful texture. Simmer very gently for another half hour then add half a bunch each of finely chopped continental parsley (NOT curly parsley) and basil. Simmer for another half an hour, taste for seasoning. Boil pasta (hand made tagliatelle preferably). When pasta is cooked, drain thoroughly and serve appropriate amount on serving plate then place a decent ladle of sauce on top along with lots of grated parmesan and some freshly ground black pepper.