Lamb ragù with tagliolini pasta

A full-flavored first course recipe from Chef Michele Castelli of the Dimora Ulmo restaurant in Matera. We pair it with a La Grola 2018 Allegrini.

Ingredients for 4 people:

For the tagliolini: 500g 00 flour, 4 whole eggs and 6 egg yolks.

For the ragù: celery, a carrot and an onion. 400g boneless lamb, thyme-flavored butter, tomato sauce, pecorino cheese, pea paste, white wine for flavoring, a little flour, salt and pepper as desired.

Directions:

For the fresh pasta: Mix and knead together the 500g of 00 flour, 4 whole eggs and 6 yolks until you get a homogenous dough. Wrap the dough in plastic and let it sit in a refrigerator for half an hour. Roll the dough out into a thin layer on a flat surface and cut out the tagliolini about 4-5mm in width.

For the lamb ragù: Chop and sauté the vegetables. Flour the lamb and braze it in a separate pan. Douse it with the white wine and mix in the sautéed vegetables.

Add the tomato sauce and some salt and cook until the meat becomes tender. Remove the meat and strain the ragù to eliminate any eventual bones.

Cut the lamb into very small cubes and add it to the sauce. Mix everything together, cook some more and adjust the salt and pepper.

Boil the tagliolini in abundant salted water and, once cooked, drain and mix with the ragù sauce, adding in the thyme-flavored butter and pecorino cheese. Serve on plates and garnish with drops of pea paste.

Wine to pair:

(edited by Stefania Vinciguerra)

La Grola Rosso Veronese 2018 Allegrini

Deep ruby red color, it has a very broad bouquet with red berry fruits, black currant, juniper and black pepper, with final notes of tobacco and coffee. It is a full-bodied wine, fresh and intense, elegant and persistent, capable of evolving positively for over a decade.

Production area: vineyards in Valpolicella on clayey and chalky soil, rich in stony matter and poor in organic substances, altitude 310 meters (984 feet), southeast exposure. 

Grape varieties: Corvina Veronese 90%, Oseleta 10%, bilateral Guyot training system, planting density about 4.240 vines/ha (1,715 vines/ac)in the 1979 planting and about 6.500 vines/ ha (2,630 vines/ac) in the 1998 planting. 

Harvest: manual harvesting carried out in the second half of September 

Vinification: soft pressing and destemming of the grapes. Fermentation in stainless steel tanks at controlled temperature with daily pumping over. Length of fermentation about 15 days. Malolactic fermentation naturally carried out in October in barrique. Maturation in French oak barrique of second passage for 16 months, mass for 2 months followed by 10 months of bottle-ageing.

Climatic trend of 2018: the spring was particularly rainy and in early July, given the abundant load of grapes, some thinning was carried out to bring the vineyard in balance. At the end of July began a dry period, interspersed with some providential rain. On the eve of harvesting, there were heavy rains (up to 170 millimeters of water). Fortunately, the weather forecast,s which announced other negative conditions have been denied. In September there was therefore a sort of new small summer, with temperatures up to 33°C, high temperatures but also high excursions (up to 15°C between day and night), which allowed the grapes to ripen ideally. The phenolic ripening took place after the second decade of September. Grapes presented a perfect sanitary condition, with good quantity and good quality. 

Alcohol content: 14.3% Vol. 

Serving temperature: 16-18°C 

Suggested food pairing: it is excellent paired with red meat dishes, whether roasted or with dark sauces, especially lamb and kid. It is also delicious with stewed or grilled mushrooms and with mild, aged cheeses.

THIS RECIPE IS OFFERED BY ALLEGRINI

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