Lamb in garlic sauce

Abbacchio alla romana
Fried lamb in garlic sauce with vinegar and anchovies.  Amazing that such great taste can be made with so little effort.

For some reason lamb is incredibly expensive in Puglia, and I presume baby lamb costs even more, which is why this recipe is more agnello than abbacchio. Yet it is absolutely delicious, which came as a surprise in view of the simple and rather boring recipe. In fact I had been looking at the recipe for years, without bothering to try it, but it immediately became a huge favourite. Especially around Easter.  Amazing the such great taste can be made with so little effort.

Ingredients
500 g lamb (cubes, steaks or chops)
5 cloves of garlic
3 salted anchovies
3-4 tbsp white wine vinegar
Rosemary
Olive oil

Preparation
Chop up a lot of fresh rosemary and rinse the salt off the anchovies.
Mix the herb to a nice paste with crushed garlic and anchovies. Stir in the vinegar.
Heat plenty of olive oil in a frying pan and fry the lamb until nice and tender.
Add garlic paste and heat it through with the lamb just before serving to make lamb in garlic sauce.

More lamb recipes

Roast lamb with potatoes and herbs

Lamb recipe with dill

Friuli lamb stew

lamb in garlic sauce

 

Tuscan onion soup

Carabaccia – A Tuscan onion soup

Small boats of cheesy bread floating in a simple Tuscan onion soup with a sophisticated touch of cinnamon.

Some say ‘Carabaccia’ means ‘a combination of simple things’, while Go Florence claims the word refers to a small boat which once carried sand and salt across the Arno. The word isn’t listed in my version of Zingarelli, so I just assume that both explanations are true, although the link from boat to soup is long lost, and enjoy this low-cost Tuscan version of the French Soupe à l’oignon. After all it may look like a small boat of cheesy bread floating in a soup of very simple things with a sophisticated touch of cinnamon.

I have replaced the almonds of traditional recipes with a potato that serves as starch to give the soup a nice creamy texture and is a lot easier to handle than my almonds, which have to be cracked from their shells before they can be peeled and pasted. Work I tend to reserve for special occasions, and carabaccia is not one of them.

Ingredients
3 red onions
3 yellow onions
1 potato
3 cloves of garlic
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp pepper corns
1 ltr beef stock
pecorino cheese
bread
olive oil, salt, sugar, white wine vinegar

Preparation
Finely chop onions, garlic and potato and fry it  in oil until the onions start to caramelize.
Add cinnamon, pepper corns and beef stock and let it simmer for 30 minutes until the onions have started to disintegrate.
Adjust the taste with salt, white wine vinegar and a pinch of sugar, if necessary.
Sprinkle grated pecorino cheese over slices of bread and toast them in the oven to make the cheese melt.
Serve the cheese bread  swimming in Tuscan onion soup or on a separate plate, as you prefer.

Other soups

Wild chickpeas soup

Jerusalem artichoke soup

Bean barley soup

Tuscan onion soup

 

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