Corsican beef stew with pasta

Halve and slice the onion, cut the beef in large cubes, cut half the garlic into slivers and crush or mince the rest, and cut the bacon in matchsticks.

Soak the dried mushrooms for 30 minutes in about 100 ml of boiling water.

With the meat flat and a hand flat on top, slide a very sharp knife in sideways to cut a cavity in each piece of beef, and stuff each with a sliver of garlic and a piece of bacon.

Lift out the morels, rinse in cold water and pat dry; keep the soaking juice.

Season the beef with salt and pepper and brown it on each side in one and a half to two tablespoons of olive oil in a cast iron pot; reserve on a plate.

Add the remaining bacon and the onion, reduce the heat to medium and cook about 10 minutes until soft.

Add the rest of the garlic and cook two minutes.

Return the meat and add the bay leaf, rosemary, mushrooms, passata, white wine and a cinnamon stick.

Simmer about 30 minutes, partly covered to limit evaporation.

Preheat the oven to 160C. Add the mushroom soaking liquid and a little cognac, bring back to a simmer, then turn off the heat.

Cover and cook in the oven at 160C for about two and a half hours, until the meat almost falls apart, adding a little water during cooking as needed.

Lift the meat out into a bowl with a little sauce and mushroom and keep it warm in the oven.

Boil the rigatoni in a big pot of water.

Bring the sauce to medium, stir the drained pasta through it and let it soak up the sauce.

Plate the pasta with the meat, shredded if liked, spoon over meat juices and mushroom, and cover with Parmesan.