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The perfect winter dinner party meal.
We are big fans of home cook Jessica Nguyen here at Dan’s. In particular, her Instagram-worthy pasta recipes. Her Lamb Ragu Pappardelle recipe is the perfect winter warmer and one of her favourites. Rich, hearty and incredibly flavoursome.
“If you ever travel to Tuscany they do a lot of ragu served with pappardelle, which is a wider fettuccine-style pasta. In Tuscany, they’d normally make it with wild boar, but here I’ve made it with lamb to celebrate Australia’s abundance of beautiful lamb. The lamb ragu recipe is a four-hour slow cook so it’s great to start cooking in the morning and serve as a warming Sunday night meal with family or friends.” Serve with the Maretti Sangiovese and you’re sorted.
Serves - 8
Cooking time - 45 mins
Prep time: 3.5 hrs slow cooking
Skill Level - Easy
Ingredients
1.5kg of lamb meat with bones - ask for lamb off cuts from your local butcher, otherwise lamb chops and lamb shoulder also work ½ cup of plain flour, to dust the lamb meat 2 red onions (brown onions will also do) 3 cloves of garlic, crushed 1 stick of celery 1 carrot 3 tablespoons of tomato paste 1 bottle of red wine. You’re going to use half the bottle for the sauce and the other half to enjoy with your pasta once it’s done Herbs of your choice - I used a mix of thyme, rosemary and oregano from my garden 2 cans of tomatoes 4 bay leaves ½ a block of Parmigiano Reggiano or parmesan cheese. You’re going to use the rind for the sauce and grate the rest for serving 1 bunch of basil - for the sauce and for serving on top at the end 1 packet of Pappardelle pasta 3 tablespoons of olive oil Salt and pepper to taste Optional - 1-2 cups of vegetable stock
Lamb
Preheat your oven to 170 degrees celsius. Place your lamb meat onto a tray and dust all sides of the meat with flour until fully coated. Heat a large pot with some oil and once hot, begin to sear all sides of the lamb until golden brown. Cook only a couple of lamb pieces at a time in the pot and don’t overcrowd the pot, otherwise you won’t get nice browning as the oil will reduce in temperature and you’ll end up steaming your meat instead. Once golden brown, place onto a tray lined with paper towel, whilst you prepare the sauce and sofrito.
Sofrito
A ‘sofrito’ is usually a mixture of onion, garlic, carrot and celery finely diced and sautéed and used as a base in soups and sauces to add flavour. For the sofrito, finely chop your onions, garlic, carrot and celery. Heat the same pot you seared your lamb in with some oil and once hot, add the onion and crushed garlic and cook on medium for 5 minutes until the onions become translucent and have ‘sweated’ out their juices and flavour. Then add your carrot and then celery and continue to fry in the pot until all ingredients have ‘sweated’ out. At this point, I also add in fresh herbs like thyme and oregano to add to the flavour. Add the tomato paste and cook for 1 minute until fully mixed through the sofrito.
Ragu
Heat a large pan with oil and once hot, ladle 2-3 spoonfuls of the ragu mixture into the hot pan. Stir until it bubbles back to boiling point. Meanwhile, boil another pot of salted water and once boiling add your pappardelle and cook until al dente (5-10 minutes depending on your pasta). Drain your pasta but reserve 1 cup of the pasta water. Add your pasta to the pan with the ragu and gently toss the pappardelle in the ragu sauce. Add a ladle of the pasta water to help bind the sauce. Cook for another minute so the pasta can absorb the ragu sauce and then plate Serve with fresh basil and freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.
Assembly
Heat a large pan with oil and once hot, ladle 2-3 spoonfuls of the ragu mixture into the hot pan. Stir until it bubbles back to boiling point. Meanwhile, boil another pot of salted water and once boiling add your pappardelle and cook until al dente (5-10 minutes depending on your pasta). Drain your pasta but reserve 1 cup of the pasta water. Add your pasta to the pan with the ragu and gently toss the pappardelle in the ragu sauce. Add a ladle of the pasta water to help bind the sauce. Cook for another minute so the pasta can absorb the ragu sauce and then plate Serve with fresh basil and freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.
