How to create a long running background task from MVC

I am using EF6, MVC 5 in VS 2013.I have a long running task which is causing timeout errors and so I want to set it running as a separate background task and return immediately to the web controller. The background task will report progress to an SQL server database. What I need, essentially, is fire and forget functionality. There appear to be a number of options:

1. Write the tasks details to a server and use a Windows service to process them UPDATE: this was the options used
2. Use async - this does not seem to be a safe option
3. Use HostingEnvironment.QueueBackgroundWorkItem Method

Option 3 would be preferred as it keeps all the code in one solution. Please could you comment on the pros and cons of each and point, if possible, to worked examples of number 3.