Italian Braised Lamb Pasta Pepperonata
Tender braised lamb ragu recipe with peppers, onions and tomatoes served with fresh pappardelle pasta.
Prep Time15 minutes mins
Cook Time3 hours hrs
Total Time2 hours hrs 15 minutes mins
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Italian
Servings: 4 People
Calories: 852kcal
Cost: 20
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
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.
A whole lamb neck is used here, but you can substitute 2 lbs of ground meat like lamb or goat instead.
Adding a spoonful of ricotta cheese at the end of cooking is a nice variation.
Serving: 8oz | Calories: 852kcal | Carbohydrates: 58g | Protein: 70g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 17g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 13g | Trans Fat: 0.5g | Cholesterol: 534mg | Sodium: 873mg | Potassium: 1509mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 3944IU | Vitamin C: 45mg | Calcium: 136mg | Iron: 10mg