Paper Chef No. 30: Spring Lamb Sugo
Jun 10th, 2008 | By Hank Shaw | Category: Italian, The Garden | Comments | 6 Comments |
UPDATE: I won! Yay! This is my second win in Paper Chef, and this means I host next month’s edition. No, I do not get a mansion and a yacht. Read up on the verdict at Food on the Food here.
It is time again for Paper Chef, the food blog competition that requires us to create something orginal and delicious using four secret ingredients. I managed to win the April edition, and this month’s episode tasked us with using local lamb, English peas, leeks and buckwheat.
Lamb? No problem. I had some lamb shanks from a lamb raised in the Delta left over from our Big Fat Greek Party in April. Peas? Got ‘em. Leeks? Hmm. Out of season for me, but I found a loner tucked into my garden, and had several frozen in the box freezer. Buckwheat? Problem.
I have never used buckwheat in my life. I have only eaten it in pancakes. What to do? My initial thought was “crepe,” since the Russians do buckwheat crepes I think. (By the way, buckwheat is neither a legume nor a grain. It’s related to sorrel and rhubarb.) But I am not good at making crepes. I am good at making pasta.
And as it happens the Italians occasionally make buckwheat pasta, so I knew what I had to do: Spring lamb sugo. Yes, that oxymoron of a dish, “spring” sugo. Sugo is a heavily concentrated sauce made by cooking the hell out of meat with some wine, broth and aromatics, then running the lot through a food mill — leaving some yummy meaty bits behind.
So how is this dish springy? First, I decided to play with some bright aromatics by adding ginger to the braise. I also included four leeks as well. I lightened up the cooking liquid by using white wine (a Lodi Viognier) instead of the customary red. And then, at the end, I tossed in fresh peas and finely minced baby leek, as well as some peppermint from the yard.
So there you have it. A deceptively simple, yet ragingly time-consuming pasta dish using fresh buckwheat tagliatelle, local lamb shanks, lots of leeks and a double handful of peas from my garden.
Check out the results of this month’s Paper Chef on the site of last month’s winner, Tammy of Food on the Food.  Or on Ilva’s Paper Chef site.
I’ve gotta think that’s a contenda. Nice work, Hank! BTW, speaking of lamb, made a reduction of port and veal stock with morels the other night to pour over some local farm-raised chops. Luv that spring lamb!
This officially makes your blog NSFW, unless you happen to work somewhere that involves buckwheat, lamb, and a pasta machine.
Which leads me to my question–did you make the pasta with a mixture of buckwheat and all-purpose flour? use eggs?
What a great idea to do noodles with the buckwheat. The pasta dish sounds divine, I’ll take an extra large serving.
My husband was very interested in doing buckwheat pasta when we read the challenge but we ran out of time. Great job.
yummm, and yum to all the other receipes on Paper Chef. Funny thing, this month’s Sunset has a recipe for an Indian-inspired lamb stew with peas and leeks – almost qualifies for the contest!
Thanks, all, for the kind words! And to answer BB about the buckwheat pasta, here are the proportions: 4 oz buckwheat flour, 4 oz semolina, 3 oz all-purpose flour, plus 2 eggs and a little water. You will have to eyeball the water dependingon how old your flour is.