Agnello e piselli (Lamb and Peas) Recipe
I love second courses that combine meat and vegetable in a single dish. Not only is the combination invariably delicious, but it saves the cook from making an extra dish. In this speciality from Puglia and Campania, often served at Eastertide, lamb—the ne plus ultra of spring meats—joins peas—one of the classic spring vegetables.
The lamb is browned then braised in a soffritto of onion sautéed in olive oil until almost tender, then peas are added to the braise until they, too, are tender. The result would be tasty on its own, but most recipes have you finish the dish cacio e uova style: eggs that have been beaten together with freshly grated Pecorino cheese are mixed together with the meat and peas until the heat of the pan sets the egg mixture just enough to produce a creamy sauce. The resulting dish is substantial but infused with lively flavors.
Ingredients
Serves 4-6
1.5 kilos (3 lbs) lamb (see Notes), cut into chunks
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
750g (1-1/2 lbs) peas, fresh or frozen
White wine
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
To finish the dish:
2-3 eggs
25g (1 oz) freshly grated Pecorino romano cheese
A few sprigs of fresh parsley, minced (optional)
Directions
In a braiser or sauté pan large enough to hold all the lamb, sauté the sliced onion in a olive oil over a gentle flame until tender and translucent. Raise the heat a bit and add the lamb pieces, turning them so they brown on all sides, taking care so the onion doesn’t burn. Season with salt and pepper as you go.
Add a splash of white wine, give the pan a stir, and let the wine cook off. Add a ladleful of water, stir again, and cover tightly. Turn the heat way down, so that the lamb braises gently. Let it cook this way until the meat is perfectly tender, usually about 45 minutes. The liquid should have reduced considerably but not completely evaporated; check on the meat from time to time; add more water if needed to keep things moist.
If using fresh peas: Shell the peas and add them about halfway through the braise, so they will be perfectly tender when the meat is. (Many Italian recipes call for adding the lamb at the beginning of the braise, right after browning the meat, but unless your lamb is very young (see Notes below) that’s like to result in mushy peas.)
If using frozen peas: Add them when the meat is almost tender, along with another ladleful of water if needed, and let them braise with the meat for the last 5-10 minutes, until they, too, are tender and have lost a bit of their bright green color.
To finish the dish, beat the eggs and grated cheese together (and if you like, a bit of minced parsley) in a bowl. Take the pan off the flame entirely, and pour over the egg and cheese mixture, and mix it well but gingerly with the lamb and peas, turning until the eggs have set enough to form a creamy sauce. Serve immediately.
Notes on Lamb and Peas
In Rome, where I lived during my years in Italy, most of the lamb you would find was extremely young, called abbacchio. This kind of lamb is not more than four weeks old and weighs no more than 5 kilos. The whole animal would be cut up into parts that included both muscle and bone, a bit like a chicken. Perhaps this is why many Italian recipes will just call for “lamb” (agnello or abbacchio) without specifying the cut, with the notable exceptions of dishes like scottadito or costelette fritte, which are made specifically with rib chops from somewhat older animals. Here in the US, things are generally quite different. Most lamb is older, typically from 6-8 months and up to a year old. The average lamb sold here weighs over 100 lbs., so lamb is sold in discrete cuts, more like beef than chicken. In your typical supermarket, your choices will usually be the leg or various chops, from the rib, loin or shoulder. Occasionally, you will also find ground lamb and lamb “stew meat”. For this dish—and most braised lamb dishes—I like to use shoulder chops cut into pieces. Shoulder chops have a nice balance of meat, bone for sweetness and fat for juiciness, and they’re easy to find. Stew meat will also work. It usually has ample fat and sometimes, if you’re lucky, will have some bone in as well.
Lamb and Peas can also be served without the cacio e uova treatment at the end, of course, and it’s just as good, in my opinion. I’ve seen recipes calling for braising the lamb and peas in the oven, then pouring the cacio e uova mixture over the top without mixing, then letting the dish bake, uncovered, until the mixture has formed a light crust.
Some recipes for Lamb and Peas add rosemary and/or garlic to the soffritto. Although rosemary is, of course, a classic seasoning for lamb, I actually don’t care for the idea of it in this dish. I think its strong flavor would clash with the delicacy of the peas and eggs—but who knows? I may be wrong. Try it and let us know how it goes.
As mentioned, Lamb and Peas is a speciality of both Puglia and Campania, and often makes an appearance on the Easter dinner table. (And this article claims the dish for Molise.) Jeanne Caròla Francesconi makes the dish with capretto (kid, or young goat) rather than lamb, sautés her soffritto in lard or butter rather than olive oil, uses Parmesan rather than Pecorino, and adds a squeeze of lemon juice to the finished dish right before serving. This last touch reminds me of a Roman lamb dish popular at Easter, agnello brodettato, lamb with egg and lemon sauce. The recipe also admits cubes of potatoes along with the peas, at least for the non-purists. And you could also add wedges of artichokes to the dish, reminiscent of the classic side dish.
If you’d like to make this dish ahead, prepare it without the final egg and cheese finish. When you’re ready to eat, reheat the dish and then give it its cacio e uova treatment right before serving.
Agnello e piselli (Lamb and Peas)
Ingredients
- 1.5 kilos (3 lbs) lamb (see Notes), cut into chunks
- 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
- 750g (1-1/2 lbs) peas, fresh or frozen
- White wine
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- To finish the dish:
- 2-3 eggs
- 25g (1 oz) freshly grated Pecorino romano cheese
- A few sprigs of fresh parsley, minced
Instructions
In a braiser or sauté pan large enough to hold all the lamb, sauté the sliced onion in a olive oil over a gentle flame until tender and translucent. Raise the heat a bit and add the lamb pieces, turning them so they brown on all sides, taking care so the onion doesn't burn. Season with salt and pepper as you go.
Add a splash of white wine, give the pan a stir, and let the wine cook off. Add a ladleful of water, stir again, and cover tightly. Turn the heat way down, so that the lamb braises gently. Let it cook this way until the meat is perfectly tender, usually about 45 minutes. The liquid should have reduced considerably but not completely evaporated; check on the meat from time to time; add more water if needed to keep things moist.
If using fresh peas: Shell the peas and add them about halfway through the braise, so they, too, will be perfectly tender when the meat is. (Many recipes call for adding the lamb at the beginning of the braise, right after browning the meat, but to me that means mushy peas.)
If using frozen peas: Add them when the meat is almost tender, along with another ladleful of water if needed, and let them braise with the meat for the last 5-10 minutes, until they, too, are tender and have lost a bit of their bright green color.
To finish the dish, beat the eggs and grated cheese together (and if you like, a bit of minced parsley) in a bowl. Take the pan off the flame entirely, and pour over the egg and cheese mixture, and mix it well but gingerly with the lamb and peas, turning until the eggs have set enough to form a creamy sauce. Serve immediately.
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http://memoriediangelina.com/2016/04/08/lamb-and-peas/
(c) Frank Fariello
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