CookEat Recipe
Romagna-Style Lamb with Peas
A lamb hindquarter studded with garlic and rosemary, browned and gently braised with tomato, then finished over peas in its cooking juices.
Method
Steps
Step 1
Gather the ingredients: 1 small bone-in lamb hindquarter, about 1.3–1.5 kg, professionally trimmed; 2 garlic cloves, cut into thin strips; 2 small rosemary sprigs; 40 g cured pork fatback, finely minced; 1 tablespoon olive oil; Salt and black pepper; 20 g butter; 200 ml plain tomato purée; About 350 ml hot ready-to-use stock, plus a little as needed; 400 g fresh shelled peas.
Step 2
Make small slits in the lamb and insert the garlic strips and small rosemary sprigs. Use sprigs that can be pulled out later rather than scattering loose rosemary leaves. Put the lamb in a heavy casserole with the finely minced fatback and olive oil, season with salt and pepper and brown over moderate heat on all sides, about 15–20 minutes.
Step 3
Once the lamb has coloured, add the butter, tomato purée and some hot stock. Cover and braise at a gentle simmer, turning occasionally and adding stock as needed, until tender and at least 72°C in the thickest meat away from bone, about 90–120 minutes or longer for the cut. Keep a small amount of cooking sauce.
Step 4
Lift the cooked lamb onto a warm plate and keep hot at 60°C or above. Add the peas to the cooking juices and simmer for about 5 minutes. Return the lamb on top of them and continue gently for about 8–12 minutes until the peas are tender. Remove the rosemary sprigs if desired and serve the carved lamb with the peas and sauce.
Step 5
Pancetta may replace the fatback in the same quantity. For the tomato-paste version, replace the purée with 2 tablespoons paste diluted in about 200 ml stock or water, adjusting the other liquid. A 1 kg boneless piece of milk-fed veal loin or rump may replace the lamb; follow the same method and check tenderness and 72°C.
Step 6
For the Tuscan oil-only version, omit both fatback and butter and use about 3 tablespoons olive oil in total. Keep the garlic, rosemary, tomato and pea sequence unchanged.
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