Cracked Candele pasta with lamb coratella

Dietary habit: Meat

60 min

Difficult

Lamb coratella is a secondo piatto of lamb organs, including the lungs, heart, kidneys and liver.

I tried lamb coratella for the first time around two months ago, and it was my foodie sister who introduced it to me. Lamb coratella is a peasant dish traditionally eaten by the poor but over the years it became less and less common. Today lamb coratella is enjoying something of a revival and has returned to the dining tables of Italy’s homes and restaurants, especially in Central Italy.

Food critics define coratella as “food for real connoisseurs”, and I agree totally.

The preparation of this particular ingredient varies from region to region: it can be fried, stewed, cooked with potatoes or with onion and artichoke.

Here I’m going to show you the Umbrian version of the dish that my sister taught me and this involves a sauce to flavour your pasta for Sunday lunch. What’s more, for this primo piatto I’ve also drawn inspiration from the recipe of great chef Francesco Rizzuti, who died in 2014.

Recipe of

Daniela Dal Ben

Ingredients

320 g
of Pasta Armando Candele
600 ml
of White wine
450 g
of Young lamb coratella
3 grains
of Black peppercorns
3 leaves
of Bay
2 sprigs
of Rosemary
1 pinch
of Hot chilli pepper
1 jar
of Tomato spaccatella (sliced, unpeeled ripe tomatoes conserved in brine)
1 clove
of Garlic
1
Lemon
1
White onion
Organic extra virgin olive oil
Salt

Recommended pasta for this recipe

Armando’s wheat

Candela

Pacchero

Armando’s wheat

Preparation

Procedure: carefully clean the coratella, eliminating all of the excess fat

Prepare the marinade: place 500ml of water on the heat with 500ml of white wine together with a bay leaf, the garlic clove, the peppercorns, 1/4 lemon and the sprig of rosemary, bring to the boil and reduce by about one third then remove from the heat and leave to cool. When the marinade has cooled, add the lamb lungs, kidneys and heart and leave to rest for a while.

Then drain.

Lightly brown a finely chopped onion in 3 spoons of extra virgin olive oil, add the tomatoes, bay leaves, rosemary and a pinch of chilli pepper and cook for around 10 minutes on a low heat until the ingredients form a thick sauce.

Cut the coratella into small pieces, keeping the various parts separate; once cut into pieces (lungs, heart, kidneys and liver) should be rinsed carefully.

Put the tomato sauce back on the heat and bring to the boil before adding the pieces of lungs, after a few minutes add the pieces of heart and kidneys then, 5 minutes later, the pieces of liver, add some white wine and let it evaporate then add salt and pepper and complete the cooking.

Crack the candele pasta by hand and cook in abundant salted water, drain the al dente pasta and mix with the lamb coratella sauce.