• 500g beef mince
• Two Italian sausages
• Two slices bacon or 80g pancetta or 60g guanciale, finely diced
• One big onion or two medium onions, peeled and finely diced
• Two carrots, finely diced
• Two stalks celery, finely diced
• Two cloves of garlic, crushed and peeled
• Two tbsp tomato puree
• 250ml white wine
• 1l chicken stock
• Salt
• Black pepper
• Fresh basil

Heat neutral oil over a high heat in the orange Le Creuset casserole. Add the beef in one block and heavily season on the side that isn’t on the heat. Leave to sear for 3 or 4 minutes, until deeply browned. Meanwhile, remove the skin from the sausages and tear into small pieces before adding into the pan with the bacon. Push the meat around, crushing it down and breaking it up with your spoon until there’s no more pink on the beef.

Turn down the heat to low and add the vegetables, stirring constantly so nothing catches and burns. Cook for another 10 minutes, stirring every now and then, until you start to catch a slightly smoky edge to the smell of the pan. Add the garlic, cook for 45 seconds and add the tomato puree. Stir constantly for 90 seconds, cooking out the rawness of the puree.

Add the wine, turn up the heat to medium and simmer down until thick and an evenly rich red throughout. Add the chicken stock and turn down to low. Cover and cook for five hours on low heat, stirring every now and then to ensure it’s not sticking. If it runs dry, add a little water.

You can cook this for less time – it will still be good after 90 minutes or so if you push the heat up a bit and leave it uncovered – but the consistency is important. It should look glossy but not wet. When you push a spoon through it, the spoon should leave a clear space behind it. If you cook fast, you should also stir it much more often and be careful not to allow any of the sauce to stick to the pan.

To finish, combine with very al dente pasta and 250ml-ish of pasta cooking water. Toss and stir until the pasta is cooked to your liking, add the basil, toss three times more, season and serve.