The flavors in this recipe hit soo many notes. When I first tasted the sauce for seasoning the first thing I got was the cinnamon and then I got a hint of the lemon. I did not use stew beef I used a chuck roast and I also left out the flour and tomato paste. I added a jar of good quality tomato sauce. I brought it up to a boil, covered it and put it in the oven at 325 for 3 hours. I did strain the sauce in batches using my fat separator and put it on the stove to reduce and thicken. I fudged on the mashed potatoes. I used Simply brand premade mashed potatoes. I heated them over a double boiler and added a touch of heavy cream, salt, pepper, parmesan and some truffle oil. Well worth the wait! About that Stracotto: Italian for Very, Very Slow-Cooked, Sublime Stew – Forktales (juliadellacroce.com)