• This takes time, a good ragu needs around 2 to 3 hours cooking, so don’t rush it. You can make a saving in time by getting the ragu going and then popping it in a low oven to simmer for a couple of hours just giving it the occasional stir, but don’t try and shorten the cooking time too much, it needs it to transform it into something truly special. If you can’t get the pork skin you can leave that out, but it will be richer and more unctuous if you can get some.
• In a large casserole dish over a moderate heat start by adding half the oil and sweating the veggies, but not the tomatoes!) with the chopped parsley stalk, the thyme leaves and the garlic. Once they have cooked down a little scrape them all out of the pan and turn the heat up, add the rest of the oil and then the venison mince, seasoning generously. Stir the meat around a bit allowing it to brown but not allowing it to clump up too much into large chunks. After 5 minutes or so, reduce the heat back to a more moderate level and re-introduce the veggies, then add the wine and allow this to cookout – reduce the wine down to almost nothing, then turn down the heat, then add the tomatoes and bring the whole show to a simmer. Add the pork skin if you are using it, along with the chilli flakes and the dried oregano, stir, simmer and reduce the heat to the lowest you can manage where you still get a little bit of gentle simmering in the pot, pop the lid on and stir every ten minutes, adding a little water if it starts to get a bit too concentrated, as you go along. Continue cooking like this for at least 1.5 hours.
• Once your ragu has had its 1.5 hours simmering – or longer!– then remove the lid and turn up the heat a little to reduce it down to arich, oily, savoury deliciousness – remove the pig skin and add the bay leaves.Turn off the heat and allow the ragu to just sit for half an hour beforechecking the seasoning and adjusting as required.

Meanwhile

• Using 100g butter, 75g of flour and 500 ml of milk make a white sauce, seasoning it with a little mace or nutmeg, plenty of salt and some pepper too. Melt the butter in a pan, add the flour, slowly add the milk stirring to make a fluid but viscous white sauce, season well and then turn off the heat.

Put it together

• In a suitable and lightly oiled baking dish, start with a little white sauce, then add a layer of pasta sheets. Then a layer of ragu, with just a dash of white sauce and a sprinkling of the chopped parsley leaves- repeat until you get to the top and then do a layer of just white sauce on top of the pasta, scatter that with all the cheese you have and bake the whole show in the oven for around 40 minutes at around 190 degrees C, once its golden brown and bubbling on top remove it from the oven and leave it to stand for 20mins before serving – delicious!