Fettuccine with Lamb Shank Ragu
Some dishes capture the richness of heritage and the coziness of home, like lamb with fresh homemade pasta. One example is Fettuccine with Lamb Shank Ragu, a masterpiece of slow cooking that embodies celebration, love, and patience.
If you’re a pasta enthusiast who loves bold, hearty flavors, lamb shank ragù fettuccine might just become your next culinary obsession. This dish pairs the rich, slow-cooked depth of lamb shank ragù with the comforting embrace of fresh fettuccine. It feels equally at home on a cozy dinner table or in a fine dining restaurant.
This meal boasts a long history and marries the hearty comfort of fresh fettuccine with the bold, robust flavors of lamb. While ragù traces its roots to Emilia-Romagna, the addition of lamb honors southern Italy’s pastoral traditions, where sheep farming has long shaped the cuisine. When silky sauce coats ribbons of homemade fettuccine, the recipe strikes a perfect balance between opulence and coziness.
Ragù is a classic Italian meat sauce, traditionally crafted with beef, pork, or veal and simmered for hours to build deep, layered flavor. But swap in lamb shanks, and you unlock a unique twist: fall-off-the-bone tender meat with a rich, subtly gamey profile. Pair this slow-cooked sauce with fettuccine—a flat, ribbon-shaped pasta—and you create a harmonious blend of rustic charm and gourmet sophistication.
Key Ingredients for Fettuccine with Lamb Shank Ragu
To prepare lamb shank ragù fettuccine, you’ll need the following:
- Lamb Shanks: The star of the dish, providing tender, fall-off-the-bone meat.
- Aromatics: Onions, garlic, celery, and carrots form the flavorful base of the sauce.
- Tomatoes: A combination of crushed tomatoes and tomato paste for a rich, tangy depth.
- Herbs: Fresh rosemary, thyme, and bay leaves add an earthy aroma.
- Red Wine: A splash of dry red wine elevates the sauce with complexity. (Optional)
- Fettuccine: Fresh or dried, this pasta pairs beautifully with the hearty sauce.
- Olive Oil and Butter: For sautéing and enriching the sauce.
- Parmesan Cheese or Pecorino Cheese: Grated, to finish the dish with a savory, nutty touch.
That was the talk. Here’s how to add a touch of the Italian countryside to your cooking.
Fettuccine with Lamb Shank Ragu
Ingredients
For the Lab Shank Raghu
- 4 pcs Lamb Shanks Cleaned
- 30 gm Garlic ½ Minced and ½ Sliced
- 5 gm Chopped thyme or rosemerry
- 1 Bayleaf
- 30 gm Djone Mustard
- 10 gm Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 5 gm Salt
- 2 gm Crushed Pepper
- 120 gm Leeks Rougly Cut and some finely chopped
- 100 gm Celery Rougly Cut and some finely chopped
- 100 gm Onion Sliced and some finely chopped
- 100 gm Carrot Rougly Cut and some finely chopped
- 50 gm Tomato Pest
- 80 gm Tomato Pilati Crushed and some diced chunks
- 200 gm Lamb Stock or vegetable stock
For the Pasta Dough
- 50 gm Semolina
- 200 gm Pasta Flour
- 170 gm Egg Yolks
- Salt to taste
For garnishand cooking
- 1 tsp Fresh Parsley Finely Chopped
- 5 gm Butter
- Pacorino cheese As much you like
- Chilli Oil Optional
Instructions
Preparing Lamb Shanks
- Cleaned the lamb shanks and patted them dry; try to remove fat and skin as much as possible.
- To make a marination, In a mixing bowl, add minced garlic, chopped herbs, Ev olive oil, djone mustard, salt, and pepper; mix well together.
- Marinate lamb shank and leave for 1 hour.
Prepare Pasta Dough
- Now time to make pasta dough. Take a bowl and start mixing egg yolks, semola folur, and flour along with salt.
- Mix well and knead until everything sticks together. Make a nice dough ball, cling film, and leave for at least 30 minutes.
Cooking lamb shanks
- Now, over medium heat in a grill pan, sear the lamb shanks until golden brown.
- Heat a deep saucepan; add some oil and add roughly cut leeks, celery, carrot, and onion one by one; add some whole spices, peppercorn, and bay leaf along with some fresh herbs.
- Cook over medium heat until golden brown.
- Now add tomato pest and cook for 2 minutes.
- When you are done with mirepoix and tomato paste, add lamb stock. If you are using vegetable stock, then add some lamb jus also for rich lamb sauce.
- It's time to add seared lamb shanks to the pot full of rich and aromatic stock.
- Cover the stock pot with a lid and leave for 2 hours.
- Until then, prepare rest everything, chop parsley, grate some cheese, and make fettuccini.
- Once the lamb is done, remove from stock and shred or cut into chunks, as you desire. I prefer hand-pulled shreds.
- Keep the lamb side and strain and reduce the lamb stock. Later, it's going to be used in sauce.
It's time to make fresh Fettuchini Pasta
- Take your pasta dough and try to flatten it as much as possible with a rolling pin.
- Once the pasta dough is flattening enough to go in the pasta machine, make a nice pasta sheet, thick or thin as you desire, and cut through the fettuccini cut attachment.
- If you are making without a machine, then the fettuchini should be 6-7 mm wide.
- Toss some flour to prevent them from sticking.
- Now get super ready to boil the pasta; once it's done, keep it on the side and sprinkle some oil to prevent sticking.
Finally, the fun part to make delicious Fettuccini Lamb Shank Ragu.
- Heat a sauté pan, toss some oil and add sliced garlic, Fry the garlic until brown.
- Add chopped onion, leeks, celery, and carrot; slightly cook all together.
- The next step is to add shredded lamb. Cook a bit. Add chopped tomato pilati and lamb suace; we reduced erliaer. Cook until it becomes creamy. If necessary, add some water.
- Add some salt and crushed pepper.
- Now add fettuccini pasta, toss it nice.
- For finishing the dish, add some butter and cheese. There you go. Add some chopped parsley and taste it. Serve it.