Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a saucepan.
Add the finely chopped shallots and sweat over a medium heat for about 3 minutes until they are soft.
Add the carrots and celery together
Stir for another 2-3 minutes.
Add the meat
Stir with a wooden spoon and fork the meat down in order to break it up. Keep stirring untill the meat is browned.
Add the stock cube
Stir untill the stock cube has dissolved. The clove of garlic can also be added at this time. However, if you prefer a very light garlic flavour, add the garlic for the last hour of simmering.
When the stock cube is dissolved, add the tomato purèe (do not use sieved or tinned tomato in this recipe).
Then add all the wine and stir gently until it has evaporated (it will take a couple of minutes).
Finally...
Add enough boiled water to cover the sauce. For this recipe I used about 400 ml (1 3/4 cups).
Now reduce the heat to the minimum, cover with a lid and simmer for 1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes.
After 1 hour of simmering, remove the lid and continue simmering for another couple of hours, until the sauce is reduced to the right consistency (having completed the third hour, the sauce should have lost most of the water and should be ready to top the pasta).
Half an hour before the end, season with salt according to taste. I suggest to do the seasoning at this late stage when the sauce has lost most of the water.Remember, that you can also put part of the sauce in the freezer to use the first time you are in a rush!