Pappardelle with Ground Lamb and Peppers
Region: Italy
Category: Pasta with Lamb
Season: Fall
Difficulty: Easy and Quick

Pappardelle is a wide ribbon-like pasta, but you can use fettuccine if you don’t find it.  This is a dish that is so delicious you’ll be hard pressed not to gobble up well past your portion.  Although it could be made with bell peppers, I like the earthy, slightly hotter taste of any of a variety of slightly hotter chile cultivars only the first of which are used in Italian cooking, the other being more associated with Mexican cooking, namely, Italian frying peppers (peperoncino), pasilla chiles, poblano chiles, and Anaheim chiles.

[photo: Clifford A. Wright]

Yield: Makes 4 servings
Preparation Time: 25 minutes

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 pound ground lamb

2 Italian frying peppers, Anaheim chiles or pasilla chiles, seeded, chopped coarsely or cut into stripes

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 cup fresh ricotta cheese

3/4 pound pappardelle

Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese to taste

1. In a skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat, then cook the onion and garlic until translucent, stirring frequently so the garlic doesn’t burn, about 4 minutes.  Add the lamb and chiles, reduce the heat to medium-low, season with salt and pepper, cover, and cook until the lamb is browned and the chiles are slightly soft, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.  Stir in the ricotta cheese and continue to cook until it is well blended and hot.

2. Meanwhile, for every pound of pasta, bring 6 quarts of water to a rolling boil over high heat, salt abundantly with up to 1/2 cup of salt, then add the pasta in handfuls.  Cook over high heat, stirring occasionally so the pasta doesn’t stick together, until al dente.  Drain without rinsing.

Transfer the pasta to a serving bowl or platter and toss with the sauce and serve with parmigiano cheese.

Variation: 

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Posted: 12/19/2006