Italian food is probably my favourite and I really love a good pasta dish. For Christmas last year Mrs. Cool got me a pasta maker and I swore I would start making my own. So far I have made ZERO pasta! This weekend I decided to remedy that. I scoured a few recipes online and in my many cook books and came up with what I think is a pretty damn good Lamb Ragu. The pasta was a LOT easier than I was expecting it to be and I think I'll be making my own more often from now on.
This recipe is enough to serve 6-8 people.
Ingredients:
For the pasta:
3 Large Eggs (Golden yolk if you can get them)
'00' Flour (300g)
For the Ragu:
Olive Oil (2tbsp)
Leg of lamb (1kg)
Brown Onion (1, chopped)
Garlic Cloves (2, crushed)
Carrots (2, diced)
Celery Stalks (2, diced)
Herbs (Rosemary, Thyme and Sage, chopped)
Tomato Puree (2tbsp)
Chopped Tomatoes (2 cans)
Chicken Stock Cubes (crumbled)
Red Wine (1 Glass)
Method:
Start by putting the leg of lamb in a slow cooker, I put mine on low the night before and when I woke up not only was the lamb tender and falling apart but my whole house also smelled of lush roast lamb. Take the lamb out and shred it and then set to one side for later.
Next fry the onion, garlic, carrots and celery in the oil until it's all tender and the onion is translucent then add the tomato puree and cook for a few more minutes. add the wine and cook until the wine has reduced, add this to the slow cooker along with the chopped tomato and herbs and the shredded lamb and crumble in the stock cubes and give it all a good stir. Leave the cooker on low and you can now forget about it for a few hours.
On to the pasta, put the flour on a board and make a well in the middle. Crack the eggs into the well and beat them. Next start adding the flour a little at a time until it's all combined and then knead the dough until it's smooth.
You then need to work the dough and this is the bit that's a pain in the neck. You need to bash it, stretch it, pull it and squash it and repeat it again and again. It can take a while and you need the pasta dough to be smooth and silky.
Wrap the dough in cling film and put it in the fridge for at least half and hour. At this point you can give the ragu a stir. Follow the instructions for your pasta maker if you're using one, if you don't have one you can roll it out with a rolling pin or just use pre made pasta.
The pasta only needs about 4 minutes boiled in salted water, drain the cooked pasta and then it's ready to serve, mixed with the ragu. Grate on some parmesan (or if you can get it Pecorino Romano) and your meal is ready. Serve with some toasted Ciabatta or Focaccia.
Buon Appetito
S
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