Padella’s pasta at home: how to cook the beef shin pappardelle and pici cacio e pepe

Padella’s two best-known dishes are still on the menu at its Shoreditch branch, 1 Phipp Street, EC2A 4PS: pici cacio e pepe, and pappardelle with an eight-hour Hereford beef shin ragu. Both can be cooked at home. The methods below are Made in Shoreditch’s own home versions, not Padella’s recipes.

Pappardelle with slow-cooked beef shin ragu

Serves 4. About 4 hours, mostly unattended.

• 800g beef shin, in large pieces
• 1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 celery stick, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves
• 200ml red wine
• 400g tin plum tomatoes
• 500ml beef stock
• 2 bay leaves
• 400g dried egg pappardelle (or 500g fresh)
• Parmesan, to serve

1. Season the beef and brown it hard in olive oil in a heavy casserole, in batches. Set aside.
2. Soften the onion, carrot and celery in the same pan over a low heat for 15 minutes. Add the garlic for a minute.
3. Pour in the wine and scrape the base of the pan. Let it bubble until reduced by half.
4. Add the tomatoes, stock, bay and beef. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook on the lowest heat (or at 150C in the oven) for 3 to 4 hours, until the meat falls apart.
5. Shred the beef into the sauce with two forks and reduce uncovered until it coats a spoon.
6. Cook the pappardelle, keep a mug of pasta water, and toss the pasta in the ragu with a splash of the water. Serve with grated Parmesan.

The ragu improves overnight and freezes well.

Pici cacio e pepe

Serves 2. 30 minutes, plus resting.

Pici are thick, hand-rolled Tuscan noodles made from flour and water only.

• 200g “00” flour, plus semolina for dusting
• About 100ml warm water
• 60g pecorino romano, finely grated
• 20g Parmesan, finely grated
• 2 tsp black peppercorns
• 30g butter

1. Mix the flour and water into a firm dough, knead for 8 minutes and rest it, covered, for 30 minutes.
2. Roll the dough 1cm thick, cut into strips and roll each strip under your palms into a rope about 3mm thick. Dust with semolina.
3. Toast the peppercorns in a dry frying pan, then crush them coarsely.
4. Boil the pici in lightly salted water for 4 to 6 minutes.
5. Melt the butter with the pepper and a ladle of pasta water. Add the drained pici, take the pan off the heat, and add the cheese a handful at a time, tossing and adding pasta water until the sauce turns glossy. Serve at once.

The common failure is clumped cheese: the pan is too hot. Take it off the heat before the cheese goes in.

Eating the originals

Padella has branches at Borough Market, Shoreditch and Soho. The Shoreditch branch takes reservations. More places to eat nearby are in the Shoreditch restaurants guide; for food and music, see Made in Shoreditch’s interview with Walter Iuzzolino on Opera on a Plate.