It really is a great one pot, two course dish. I came up with it
myself last month but I gather it is basically Italian home cooking.
The measures are just approximate. 3kg fed 8 with leftovers. You need
at least 3 hours cooking time so some planning ahead is required.

2-3kg piece of chuck or blade beef (the cheap shoulder cut, not
fillet or sirloin)
olive oil
1 bulb (ie 10-15 cloves) of garlic, maybe some thyme and a bay leaf
1 large onion
1 bottle red wine
2-3 tins of chopped tomatoes
spirelli or shell pasta
parmesan cheese
salt and pepper


Set oven to 180 deg C.
Heat the oil in a large cast iron casserole (eg Le Creuset) on the
stove.
Brown the beef all over for about 10 mins
Remove the beef and fry the roughly chopped garlic and onions until
softened, and add the optional herbs, salt, pepper.
Return the beef and any juices to the casserole.
Add the wine minus one glass (for you to have a drink) and the chopped
tomatoes. It will probably not fully cover the meat, but fine if it
does. Bring it up to a fast simmer.
Lid on tightly, into the oven and turn it down to 130-140 deg C
immediately. This will keep it simmering, but you don't want it too be
boiling in there! Check after 15 mins it is just a slow simmer.
After 1.5 hours, turn the meat over.
Cook further 1.5 hrs.
Test that the meat is starting to pull apart easily. If not, cook for
a further 30 mins-1 hr.
Remove meat and keep warm. It will have shrunk dramatically and all
the fat and connective tissue will have disappeared!
Put the casserole back onto the stove and bring the cooking liquid to
boil. Add fresh or dried pasta up to the level of the liquid (if you
want to cook more pasta, you can add some boilng water but not too
much).
Once the pasta is cooked, stir in the grated parmesan. Obviously, do
not drain the pasta, as you have already cooked it in its sauce.
Serve the pasta direct to the table in the casserole, along side the
meat or as a first course.

Leaks are a green side dish I often use but any veg or a green salad
(no tomatoes though!) would be good company with this dish.

Note that you can reserve some of the cooking liquid (before you boil
the pasta) and make gravy for the meat, or serve with mustard/
horseradish.

If you try it out please let me know how it goes.

James