ragu is one of those meals I enjoy cooking as much as I enjoy eating it, I love the slow processes that builds up the flavour. this one is a typical beef ragu in a meaty tomato sauce. I make this all the time, Its my secret weapon in the kitchen and every one that has tried it loves it, I make it and use it in lasagne too with a cheesy béchamel sauce. I decided to make some easy homemade pasta to go with it  (when I say easy I mean I didn’t weigh the flour and just winged it lol), but store bough pasta is fine (in fact I usually would just use store bought). to bring this recipe to you I wanted to pull out all the stops and make everything from scratch. pappardelle is one of the easiest of pastas and it goes really well with a ragu.

for the ragu

• 500g mince beef
• 6 rashes 0f bacon
• 1 red onion
• 1 large carrot
• 1 celery
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 150ml red wine
• 6 tbsp. tomato puree
• 1 tbsp. garlic puree
• tin of tomoatos
• handful or fresh cherry tomatoes
• 2 + 1 tbsp. brown sugar
• 200ml boiling water beef stock cube/pot
• 2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
• basil
• salt pepper

before starting prepare the ingredients, start by chopping up the onion, place in pan with a little oil (don’t put on the heat yet) next finely grate the carrot, and finely chop the celery, then cut the fat off the bacon and cut into small chunks. you can use lardons if you prefer. cut the cherry tomatoes in half.

start frying the onion with 1 tbsp. of brown sugar, stirring constantly until golden, then add the mince and bacon and stir until the meat is cooked, (I like to drain off the fat at this point) now add the carrot and celery and simmer for 2 minutes then add the wine, let simmer for a minute then add the purees, tinned tomatos, chopped tomatoes, crushed garlic, then mix the stock cube or stock pot with the water and add to the pan stir together and let simmer for 10 minutes, then add the sugar and balsamic vinegar, turn heat down and simmer stirring occasionally for 2 to 3 hours. once ready stir in the chopped basil and salt and pepper. before serving I like to add some of the water from the pasta to make the sauce wetter.

stir together the pasta and sauce and serve with a grating of parmesan.

to make the garlic bread

• 250g strong white flour
• 1 sachet fast action yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 200ml water

add the flour water, yeast, salt and oil in a bowl then slowly add half the water then add a little at a time until it comes together (you may not need all of it) knead for 5 to 10 minutes until smooth.

oil a large bowl and place the dough in and leave to double in size for about 1 hour

to make the filling

• 6 basil leaves
• 3tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp garlic paste
• 1 tbsp. chopped fresh chives
• salt and pepper

mix together in a small dish ready to use in the bread.

knock the air out and stretch into a square, cover with the filling and fold in half, cut into small squares and then place into baking dishes, leave to rise again for 45 minutes. bake for 25 minutes at 180c

for the pasta

• approx. 300g plain flour or tippo 00
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tsp olive oil

place the flour on your work top and make a well in the centre, add the oil and eggs in the centre and start mixing with a fork, knead into a douhh. cover and let rest for 10 minutes, then start rolling out with a pasta machine starting on the lowerst setting and going up as thin as you can, use a sharp knife to cut into thick strips. to cook add into a pan of boiling water with a pinch of salt and boil for about 5 minutes.

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