Beef Shin Ragu

Beef shin is one of my favourite cuts of meat, It's amazing in slow cooked stews and pasta sauces and I would choose it over stewing or braising steak every time as I think it has more flavour and falls apart a bit more easily. Here is really easy recipe for a ragu sauce to go with pasta which I think is great food for the weather were having, it's not cold but bloody rainy!
Although this is a very easy dish to prepare and cook you need a whole day to do it as it's takes around 4/5 hours to cook but is very very worth it.

800g Beef Shin cut into chunks
2 Large Carrot
2 Large celery sticks or several smaller ones
2 onions
3 cloves of garlic
A tin of good quality tomatoes
A handful of cherry tomatoes
A squidge of tomato puree
2 bay leaves
2/3 sage leaves
Freshly ground black pepper
1 bottle of half decent red
500ml of good beef/chicken stock
Parmesan/Pecerino to sprinkle on top





 Fry the beef in batches so it brown's and does not steam and then remove the it to a plate, and set aside.


Add the diced vegetables and herbs to the casserole dish and sweat them gently for 10-15 minutes until soft but not coloured.


Return the meat to the pan, and add the wine, stock, and tomatoes. Bring to a simmer, then half cover it and simmer on the stove top for around 4/5 hours or you can put it in the oven if you prefer






When it's done serve with pasta, salad and a generous sprinkle of Parmesan

Herby Courgette and Mushroom Pasta

This is beyond simple but wanted to share it as it's so delicious and perfect for a mid-week simple supper or a quick lunch. When I had my first ever flatshare one of the guys I lived with made me courgette pasta where he just grated lot's of courgette, cooked it and added pasta and Parmesan, so good and very cheap to! Ive added mushrooms and a cream sauce but it's just as lovely without.


Sliced Chestnut Mushrooms
1 grated courgette
Half a pack of Boursain garlic & Herb Cheese
Tagliatelle
Freshly milled Pepper & Salt




All you need to do is get your pasta on to boil, grate your courgette and slice your mushrooms. Start by sauteing the mushrooms in a little butter and olive oil until there cooked with a slight caramelization on them as I think they taste nicer like that. Then add your grated courgette and cook for around 4-5 minutes before adding your boursain and stirring it in.
Lastly stir the cooked pasta into the creamy courgette sauce, season and serve, and Im sure you could add a few shavings of Parmesan and it would be extra lovely.

Creamy Spinach Fettucini

I am not going to claim this pasta dish as some kind of culinary masterpiece but it is delicious and oh so easy peasy to make. I needed something quick before going to work in the evening and so threw togther some baby leaf spinach, cream, parmasan and freashly ground mixed peppercorns into some fettucini, voila!