Italian Braised Lamb Pasta Pepperonata
Rich, slightly spicy Italian Braised Lamb Pasta Pepperonata is a delicious pasta recipe from Chef Ben Spangler using lamb neck, but many cuts of lamb can be used. The directions include making the accompanying pasta–not as difficult as it may be assumed and adds a traditional touch, but is optional.
How to Make Braised Lamb Pasta Pepperonata
First the lamb is browned in a pot. If you don’t want to use a neck as chef does in the video you can use ground lamb or a 2 lb piece of lamb shoulder. Once the lamb is browned, onions, bay, rosemary wine and water are added and the neck is cooked until tender.
Once the meat is cooked tender it’s removed and the sauce is made by cooking carrots and onion until lightly caramelized. Peppers, water and grated tomatoes are added to the pot and simmered until tender. Finally the meat is added back to the pan with the cooking juices and simmered until thickened.
Chef recommends serving the pasta with fresh pappardelle noodles but you can use dried fettucine or your favorite long noodle. Linguine would work too.
This recipe is by chef Ben Spangler. Hailing from Minnesota, Ben draws from his Midwestern roots to create dishes that are unpretentious and delicious. Ben has competed on national television for the Food Network and appeared on local Minneapolis food networks. He is currently executive chef at Mercy in Minneapolis.
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More Goat and Lamb Pasta Recipes
Braised Lamb Sugo (Sunday Gravy)
Italian Braised Lamb Pasta Pepperonata
Equipment
- 1 Dutch oven or heavy bottomed pot
Ingredients
Lamb Neck
- 1 Lamb Neck or 2 lbs of shoulder
- 1 white onion
- 1 rosemary sprig
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 olive oil
- 4 cups water
Pepperonata Sauce
- 4 Tablespoons butter
- 1 carrot dice
- ½ red onion small diced
- 5 bell peppers thin sliced
- 1 oz thyme or marjoram
- 1 oz flat leaf parsley chopped
- 4 to matoes
- 4 heirloom tomatoes
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 3 cups lamb cooking liquid
- 1 splash dry red wine or white wine
Fresh Pasta (optional)
- 8 oz flour
- 6 egg yolks
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon evoo or extra virgin olive oil
- Parmesan cheese to taste
Instructions
Cooking the Lamb Neck
- In Dutch oven sear lamb in evoo or olive oil, once seared on all sides move to one side and add onions.
- Add the splash wine and scrape up the browned bits. Add the rosemary, bay leaves and water. Cover.
- Simmer on stove top for 3 hours or until tender. If water gets too low, add a little as needed. Alternative: braise in oven at 300 F for three hours.
- When the meat is done, remove meat from pan, allow to cool for a few minutes, then shred. Reserve the meat and pan juices separately.
Pepperonata Sauce
- Add 1 T of butter to the pan followed by carrots and onions. Allow to caramelize. Slowly add herbs thyme or marjoram, and paprika.
- Grate 4 large tomatoes into the pan and add thin sliced garlic over the top.
- Simmer. Add peppers and water. Allow to slow cook and stew. Once peppers are soft and tender and sauce has reduced add the lamb braising liquid and shredded lamb neck meat. Season to taste and keep warm.
- Dice remaining heirloom tomatoes and parsley. Reserve.
Fresh Pasta
- Shift flour into a bowl making a well in the middle.
- Add remaining ingredients and combine with a fork.
- Finish working mixture with your hands until it holds together.
- Once it becomes malleable start folding it onto itself and kneading. Repeat until there is a lot of resistance. Test by depressing with finger. The dough should return to it’s shape.
- Allow dough to rest for 30 min.
Finish and Serve
- Roll and shape the dough into manageable pieces.
- Flatten with a rolling pin before adding to the pasta machine.
- Start rolling on the largest number and decrease one step at a time until proper thickness. Cut noodles to desired length & dust with flour. Reserve the noodles.
- Boil salted water in a large pot and add noodles. Time will fluctuate and will depend on how thick the noodles are and personal al dente preference. Approximately 2-3 minutes.
- Strain and add to a bowl with Parmesan cheese, pepper and salt.
- Add sauce and garnish with cheese, black pepper, parsley and fresh diced heirloom tomatoes and serve.