Braised Leg of Lamb (Ragù di Agnello)

from lidiasitaly.com (Lidia Bastianich)
adapted by Dick Lonergan

serves 8 to 10 or more, plus lots of extra sauce for pasta

2 1/2 cups crustless country bread cubes, slightly dried or day-old
1 cup grated pecorino
3 plump garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
4 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
5 to 6 pound boneless leg oflamb, butterflied and untied
2 teaspoons Kosher salt, plus more to taste
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cups chopped onions
4 bay leaves, preferably fresh
3 small branches fresh rosemary with lots of leaves
3 sprigs fresh thyme
6 cups (two 28-ounce cans) canned Italian plum tomatoes,
    preferably San Marzano, crushed by hand

Filling: Put the bread cubes in a mixing bowl, and pour in enough water to cover them. Let them soak for a few minutes. When they're saturated, dump the cubes into a strainer and squeeze the bread to get out most of the water. Put the soft, wet bread back in the bowl, tearing it into shreds with your fingers. Scatter the grated cheese, chopped garlic and parsley over the bread, and stir everything together vigorously (or work together with your hands) into a spreadable paste.

Lamb: Lay out the butterflied lamb leg and trim any thick fat from the outside surface (a few traces are okay). Turn the meat over so the inside of the leg (where the bone was) faces up, and arrange it to form a flat, solid oblong slab. If necessary, pound or butterfly so the meat slab is evenly thick. Drop mounds of the bread paste on the lamb, and spread it to cover the whole surface, leaving a margin around the edges (so it won't ooze out). Now roll up the meat to form a snug, loaf-shaped roll. Loop short pieces of twine around the roll every few inches along its length to keep it in shape, and knot securely. Press and tuck in the flaps of meat at the ends of the roll, and secure them with twine looped lengthwise around the roll and tied tight. If you have butcher's netting, slip it over the rolled meat, and stretch first, then tie it securely. Season the outside of the tied roll with 1 teaspoon salt.

Cooking: Pour the olive oil into a big pan, and set over medium-high heat. Lay the meat in the hot oil, and let it sizzle for a minute or two without moving, until browned on the bottom. Rotate the roll, and brown the meat for a couple of minutes, then rotate again until the lamb leg is nicely caramelized all over. Push the meat to the side of the pan, clearing as much space in the middle as possible, and pour in the chopped onions. Stir and spread them in the pan as they start to sizzle, scraping up the bits of caramelization from the pan bottom; shift the lamb to stir the onions all around. After 4 or 5 minutes when the onions have softened, add the bay leaves, rosemary and thyme, and stir for another minute to toast the herbs. Move the meat to the center of the pan, and pour the crushed tomatoes around it. Rinse out the bowl used for the tomatoes and tomato cans with 2 cups water, and pour that in, along with more water if needed, until three-quarters ofthe lamb is submerged in the liquid. Sprinkle the remaining 1 teaspoon of salt all over, and stir the tomatoes, water, onions and seasonings together. Cover the pan and bring the braising liquids to a boil over high heat, then adjust the flame to keep a steady, gentle bubbling around the lamb. Cook tightly covered, checking the liquid level occasionally to see that it is notcooking too fast. Every 40 minutes or so, rotate the meat so the top of the roll gets submerged, and add water to maintain the level of braising liquids. Cook the lamb for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, or until a long fork can pierce the thickest part of the leg and slide out easily. If the sauce is concentrated and velvety, the dish is done; turn off the heat, and let the leg rest in the sauce for at least 30 minutes before serving.

If the meat is tender but the sauce is too thin, transfer the meat to a platter and cook the sauce uncovered, reducing it to a velvety consistency. Turn off the heat, and replace the lamb in the sauce to rest for at least 15 minutes. After the rest period, remove the lamb leg and finish the sauce. Pick out the herb stems and bay leaves, skim off any fat that has collected on the top, and taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve the sauce as is, or pass it through a food mill.

Serving: Cut and remove the twine or netting. Slice the leg crosswise into 1/2 inch-thick slices, and arrange them on a warm platter. Moisten the slices with spoonfuls of warm sauce, and pass more sauce at the table.

This is a great dish for afestive occasion, because a big leg will easily serve eight or more. To savor it Italian style, Lidia encourages you to present this in two courses, using the sauce to dress maccheroni alia chitarra or other pasta for a primo (first course), using 2 cups of sauce for each pound of pasta, and serving the sliced lamb leg as the main course.