This warming braise may take three hours to develop its richly layered and delicious flavours, yet it only requires 30 minutes of your effort to prep. Once that’s done, the rest of the cooking time is hands-free, so you can relax while the house fills with an irresistible aroma and the promise of good things to come.
Preheat oven to 150°C fan-forced. Finely chop onion. Peel and crush garlic. Cut beef into 4cm pieces.
Heat 20ml (1 tablespoon) oil in an ovenproof saucepan with a lid over medium heat. Add beef, season with ½ teaspoon salt flakes and pepper and cook, turning, for 5 minutes or until browned. Reduce heat to medium-low, add onion and garlic and cook for 5–7 minutes or until softened. Add tomato paste and cook, stirring, for 1 minute or until caramelised.
Add porcini and tomatoes to pan. Dissolve stock cube in 375ml (1½ cups) boiling water and add to pan. Cover with lid, transfer to oven to cook for 2½ hours or until beef is very tender.
While ragu is cooking, roughly chop parsley. Place in a bowl with remaining olive oil. Finely zest and juice lemon and add to bowl with salt and pepper. Mix well to combine and set aside.
Cook pasta in a saucepan of salted, boiling water for 10 minutes or until al dente. Drain.
Remove ragu from oven and, keeping it in the pan, use 2 forks to shred beef, leaving some large pieces. Season with salt and pepper. Divide pasta between bowls and top with ragu, gremolata and parmesan to serve.