I am pretty obsessed with pasta, I think I must of been Italian in another life as I’m quite sure I could eat it every day and never get bored of it. for this dish I made pici pasta which is a hand rolled Tuscan pasta and I paired it with slow cooked ox cheeks with chianti, a wine made with Tuscan grapes. do you spot a theme here?, Tuscany!  I saw a competiton and to enter you had to create a Tuscan inspired recipe and I was inspired. I looked into Tuscan cuisine and saw recipes for Tuscan bean soup, ribolitta and zuppa tuscana but I wanted to try and stand out and try and do something hopefully a little different and this recipe is the result of that. I came across a slow cooked beef chin in chianti recipe and adapted it and used ox cheeks and made pici pasta to go with it just to make sure it was extra Tuscan lol. if only there was such a thing as smell-o-vision as this smelt incredible. the smell of strong red wine with the meat slow cooking for hours was so good. there is something so hearty about Tuscan cusine it just screams comfort food to me which i love especially this time of year now the temperature has started to drop. is there any thing better than their famous bean and sausage soup or a ragu? Tuscany sure knows how to create good food.

even archie was trying to have some

recipe

• 2 ox cheeks, 1.5kg approximately
• 325ml of chianti red wine
• 1 bay leaf
• peppercorns, a few
• 1 garlic clove (for the marinade bashed)
• 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 stick of celery, finely chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
• 300ml of beef stock I used beef bone broth
• 2 tbsp of tomato purée
• salt pepper
• oil

the day before add the ox cheeks in a bowl and add the wine, bashed clove of garlic, pepper corns and bay leaf, cover with plastic wrap and leave to marinade over night in the fridge. the next day finely slice and fry the onion until golden then add the carrot and celery and sliced garlic ( I grated the carrot) remove from the frying pan and then pour into a casserole pan then remove the ox cheeks from the wine mixture, saving that liquid, season the meat then place in the pan and brown on both sides then pour over the wine mixture to deglaze the pan and pour into the casserole dish, place the lid on and bake in the oven for 3 hours. half way through cooking I turned the ox cheeks over so that the sauce was able to help cook it. after three hours the meat should fall apart, if not you can cook for another 20 minutes to 1 hour. 3 hours was enough for me. pull the meat apart into small bits so it mixes with the sauce. while the meat is cooking make the pasta

• 3 cups tippo 00 pasta flour
• 4 eggs
• 1 tbsp. olive oil

place the flour in a mound on the work top and make a hole in the centre, then crack the eggs into the centre and add the oil then using a fork start stirring the eggs, pulling in flour from the edge as you go then mix with your hands and knead together into a ball. cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 2o minutes. to make pici pasta you can either roll the dough out and cut strips then roll into spaghetti like strands or break off small chunks and roll it out between your hands and then roll against the work top.

to cook pasta add to boiling water on the stove and cook for 6 minutes, then strain off the water and toss in the meat sauce. serve with grated hard Italian cheese and some fresh basil.

“I want to win a week in one of your Tuscany villas!”