Two Red Bowls

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pappardelle with lamb ragu

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I’m back!  It’s the Friday before A Common Table ventures out in the world, therefore (1) the last Friday to preorder, if you like, and (2) the first Friday of a ton of giveaways of some of my most favorite things in the book over the next two months!  From now until December, I’ll be sharing a recipe from the cookbook and a giveaway every Friday here and on Instagram, and you’ll have a week to enter before the winner is announced, along with a new giveaway.

If writing this book were not already special enough, pairing up with some of the makers and brands I cherish most in my kitchen every day has made it even more so.  Colleen Hennessey is one of those–I remember vividly the first time I saw her bowls in Tara and Heidi’s beautiful books and on Tara’s Instagram, and was lucky enough to meet Colleen and her wife Adele in their sunny home in Silver Lake before they moved up to beautiful Mendocino last year (after which I toted home about twice as many bowls as I intended to buy).  The bowls are super striking, with speckles and big unique swaths of white or tan on their bellies like happy cats, but perhaps even more importantly, they’re sturdy and functional–they can go in the dishwasher, and are shallow but still have a nice solid rim that makes them perfect for anything from pasta to soup to bibimbap.  And she’s made four of them, from a bitty baby 3.5-inch one to a big 11-inch one for serving, to give away to you!

A little bit about the dish in the beautiful bowls–this ragu was inspired by the incredible pork shoulder ragu in Dinner: A Love Story by Jenny Rosenstrach and Andy Ward.  It is more mind-blowingly delicious than any recipe so simple and so hands-off has any right to be.  In my little twist, I replaced the pork with lamb for earthiness and threw in some hearty greens for texture, but the elegant simplicity of their recipe remains:  Combine the hunks of meat with aromatics, tomatoes, and a healthy glug of wine, pop it into the oven, and walk away.  Three hours later, what you get is deeply flavorful and tender, falling off the bone, and ready to be melded together into one beautifully rich sauce.  I like it best over bouncy, bright-yellow egg pappardelle, but it works well with any robust pasta of your choice.

Pop over to my Instagram to enter the giveaway!  The giveaway ends next Friday, October 26 at 12:00am.

pappardelle with lamb ragu, from a common table

pappardelle with lamb ragu, from a common table

pappardelle with lamb ragu, from a common table

pappardelle with lamb ragu, from a common table

pappardelle with lamb ragu, from a common table

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pappardelle with lamb ragu

  • Yield: serves a crowd, 6-8
Scale

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds lamb shank (about 2 shanks; see Notes)
  • Salt and black pepper, to taste
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 cups diced onion (1 to 2 onions)
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 to 4 cloves)
  • 1 cup red wine
  • 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
  • ½ cup diced carrot (about 1 carrot)
  • ¼ cup fresh oregano leaves, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons finely minced rosemary leaves
  • 1 tablespoon chili garlic paste (1 to 2 teaspoons sriracha also works)
  • 4 cups shredded kale leaves (see Notes)
  • 2 pounds dried or 3 pounds fresh pappardelle
  • Shaved Parmesan cheese, for serving

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 300°F. Season the lamb shanks generously with salt and black pepper (I use about 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon black pepper). Set aside.
  2. In a large Dutch oven, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring often, until the onions just begin to soften, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the lamb shanks, wine, tomatoes, carrot, oregano, rosemary, and chili garlic paste, and give it all a good stir. Bring the mixture to a simmer, then cover and place in the oven.
  3. Braise in the oven for 3 to 4 hours, turning the shanks every hour. If the liquid starts to cook dry, add water, 1 cup at a time, enough to keep the liquid about halfway up the lamb. By the end of the cooking time, the meat should be falling off the shanks.
  4. Remove the pot from the oven and use tongs to remove the shanks from the pot. Use forks to pull the meat off the bone and shred it finely, then return the shredded meat to the pot and stir. Place over medium-low heat and add the kale. Let simmer until the kale is tender, 15 to 20 minutes.
  5. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta. Cook the pasta according to package directions. Divide the cooked pasta between six to eight bowls, top with the ragu, and serve with plenty of shaved Parmesan on the side.

Notes

Feel free to use pork shoulder in place of the lamb, if preferred. Collard greens also work wonderfully here in place of the kale.

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