Orecchiette alla Materana

Orecchiette baked under lamb ragu, egg and pecorino until the top sets.

Lamb, Egg. Not vegetarian — contains lamb, pecorino whose rennet the source does not name.

Ingredients

• 400 g orecchiette
• 500 g lamb shoulder, in small dice
• 400 g passata
• 1 onion, chopped
• 150 ml dry red wine
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 120 g pecorino, grated
• 60 g coarse breadcrumbs
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons salt

Method

1. Brown the diced lamb hard in the oil, add the onion, then the wine, then the passata. Cook 90 minutes until the lamb is falling apart and the sauce is thick.
2. Boil the orecchiette for two thirds of the time on the packet. They finish in the oven.
3. Mix the drained pasta with the ragu, then stir in the beaten eggs and half the pecorino OFF THE HEAT.
4. THE EGG IS WHAT MAKES THIS MATERANA. It is not a sauce ingredient — it sets in the oven and binds the whole dish into something you cut rather than spoon, which is why this is a baked pasta and not orecchiette with lamb ragu.
5. Tip into an oiled dish, scatter the breadcrumbs and the rest of the pecorino, and thread a little oil over.
6. Bake at 190C for 25 minutes until the top is crusted and the edges have pulled from the dish.
7. Rest 10 minutes before cutting.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes