Recipe

Blood Orange Lamb Ragu w/ Mint Papparadelle & French Feta

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Photo by Aliwaks

This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Dish with Blood Oranges, Feta and Mint
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Aliwaks's Notes: Similar to many other Food52ers this came to me in the middle of the night, I went to bed thinking of salads and fritters and all of the sudden "PASTA". I think the flavor of blood orange...
Similar to many other Food52ers this came to me in the middle of the night, I went to bed thinking of salads and fritters and all of the sudden "PASTA". I think the flavor of blood orange plays very nicely with lamb, there's a specific sweetness to them that regular oranges do not have. The next day I gathered the ingredients and went to work, first on the ragu and the next day the pasta, coincidentally (and because of lost snow day class) it was lamb ragu day in class this week. I re-made the ragu using chunks of lamb in stead of ground lamb, and we used it to stuff raviolis. My instructors comment was 'This is f***ing good". I am not an expert pasta maker, I'm including a text book pasta recipe, but I think you could use store bought fresh pasta, though it will miss a touch of mint.

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Serves 6

Blood Orange Lamb Ragu:

1 tablespoon Olive OIl Ask a question about this ingredient

1 pound ground Lamb ( pref shoulder) best you can get Ask a question about this ingredient

3 cloves garlic Ask a question about this ingredient

1 bay leaf Ask a question about this ingredient

1/4 cup Minced carrot Ask a question about this ingredient

1/4 cup minced celery Ask a question about this ingredient

1/2 cup minced onion Ask a question about this ingredient

1 sprig fresh thyme Ask a question about this ingredient

1 sprig fresh rosemary Ask a question about this ingredient

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon Ask a question about this ingredient

1 teaspoon ground cumin Ask a question about this ingredient

1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper (or red pepper flake) Ask a question about this ingredient

1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa or cocoa nibs Ask a question about this ingredient

1/4 cup blood orange juice Ask a question about this ingredient

1 teaspoon Fresh Dried Mint ( mint that you've had fesh and then dried, sub fresh if you don't have any) Ask a question about this ingredient

1/2 cup White wine Ask a question about this ingredient

2 strips blood orange zest Ask a question about this ingredient

1 cup canned chopped tomatoes Ask a question about this ingredient

1 cup chicken stock Ask a question about this ingredient

1 cup crumbled frecnh feta Ask a question about this ingredient

1/2 cup julienned fresh mint Ask a question about this ingredient

1 tablespoon finely shredded blood orange zest Ask a question about this ingredient

1 tablespoon tomato paste Ask a question about this ingredient

In a heavy bottom pot heat olive oil, add spices & zest and warm till fragrant then add in lamb, breaking it up into small pieces, season with salt & pepper, it will realize a lot of liquid, cook until almost all of it evaporated. It will take awhile, remove lamb with a slotted spoon and set aside.
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Lower heat and mirepoix,and herbs. Sautee until caramelized, and dark rich brown (be really careful not to let them burn)
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Stir in tomato paste and cook until it turns a dark rusty red (aka “Pincing”)
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Add lamb back in, raise heat for a bit, add wine and deglaze, getting up all the brown bits, cook until wine has evaporated,
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Pour in chicken broth, orange juice & tomatoes, braise over low heat for 3 hours. (can be done up to a day ahead)
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Prepare pasta by boiling in well salted water,
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Saute pasta briefly with ragu, adding small amounts of pasta water if too thick. Toss well , making sure that pasta is well coated
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Serve with crumbled French feta, julienned fresh mint & finely grated blood orange zest.
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Fresh Mint Papparadelle:

3 cups "00" flour Ask a question about this ingredient

4 large fresh eggs Ask a question about this ingredient

1 teaspoon salt Ask a question about this ingredient

2-3 tablespoons water Ask a question about this ingredient

1/2 cup blanced fresh mint, squeezed dry & chopped finely Ask a question about this ingredient

Mound flour on a clean smooth work surface, make a well in center. Add eggs, salt, mint and 2 tablespoons water to well. With a fork, gently beat eggs and water until combined. Gradually stir in enough flour to form a paste, pulling in flour closest to egg mixture and being careful not to make an opening in outer wall of well. Knead remaining flour into mixture with your hands to form a dough, adding more water drop by drop if dough is too dry (dough should be firm and not sticky). Knead dough until smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with clean dish towel and let sit @ an hour
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Divide dough into 8 pieces, then flatten each piece into a rough rectangle, keep the rectangles you are not using covered. Set rollers of pasta machine on widest setting.
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Lightly dust 1 rectangle with flour and feed through rollers. (Keep remaining rectangles under bowl.) Fold rectangle in half and feed it, folded end first, through rollers 7 or 8 more times, folding it in half each time and feeding folded end through. Dust with flour if necessary to prevent sticking. Turn dial to next (narrower) setting and feed dough through rollers without folding. Continue to feed dough through rollers once at each setting, without folding, until you reach narrowest setting. Dough will be a smooth sheet (about 36 inches long and 4 inches wide). Cut sheet crosswise in half. Cut into 1" wide ribbons, I use a sharp knife, you could use a pizza cutter, keep on cookies sheet in a single layer dusted with corn meal, with layer parchment paper as needed.
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