Pappardelle with Ragu. Ragu is an Italian term for a meat-based sauce. This lamb and mushroom recipe is rich and earthy and will sure to impress your Friday night dinner guests.
Pappardelle with Ragu
Serves 4
Ingredients
50g dried porcini mushrooms
2 tbsp olive oil
20g butter
4 lamb shanks (1.5kg)
350g button mushrooms, sliced
1 large brown onion, finely chopped
2 sticks celery, thinly sliced
100g thinly sliced pancetta, roughly chopped
2 tbsp tomato paste
½ cup white wine (chardonnay)
¼ cup sage leaves, roughly chopped
500g pappadelle pasta
¼ cup sage leaves (extra), fried, to serve
2 tbsp sour cream, to serve
Method
1 Put porcini mushrooms in a bowl and cover with hot water. Stand for at least 30 minutes or until softened. Drain, reserving liquid. Roughly chop porcini mushrooms and set aside.
2 Heat 2 tsp oil and half the butter in a large heavy-based casserole dish over medium heat. When butter melts add 2 shanks and cook for 5–8 minutes or until browned on all sides. Transfer to a large bowl. Repeat with remaining shanks.
3 Preheat oven to 200C. Add 2 tsp oil and remaining butter to casserole dish. Add porcini and button mushrooms and cook, stirring often, over medium heat for 8 minutes or until golden. Transfer to bowl with shanks. Add onion, celery and pancetta to casserole dish and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4 minutes or until soft. Add tomato paste and stir until well combined. Pour 1½ cups reserved mushroom liquid and wine into vegetable mixture. Bring to the boil. Return shanks and mushrooms to casserole dish. Add sage leaves. Cover and put in oven. Cook for 1–1½ hours or until shanks are very tender. Remove casserole dish from oven. Remove shanks from casserole dish and cut meat from bone. Shred and return to casserole dish.
4 Cook pasta in a large saucepan of boiling salted water until just tender. Drain. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan. Add sage leaves (extra) and cook over medium heat until bright green and a little crisp.
5 Put pasta on serving plates or in bowls. Spoon lamb ragu over pasta and top with sour cream and fried sage leaves.
