Baked orecchiette with lamb alla Materana

5 from 37 votes

Baked orecchiette with lamb alla Materana

This super simple delicious traditional lamb pasta bake from Matera, Basilicata in Southern Italy has only 5 main ingredients and can be on the table in less than one hour. I made it with burnt wheat pasta (orecchiette di grano arso) but you can use normal fresh or dried orecchiette or other short pasta

Prep Time10

Cook Time45

Course: Main Course, starter

Cuisine: Basilicata, Italian, Mediterranean, Southern Italian

Keyword: baked pasta recipe, burnt wheat pasta, lamb ragu, orecchiette

Servings:

Calories: 1055kcal

Author: Jacqui

Ingredients

1 lb orecchiette (400g) fresh or dried
10.5 oz ground or diced lamb (300g) I used diced leg meat
1 lb tomato passata (450g) or fresh or canned peeled tomatoes
10.5 oz fresh mozzarella (300g) drained and cut into slices.
3.5 oz Pecorino Romano grated
salt for pasta and to taste
freshly ground black pepper. to taste
2-3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil.

Instructions

Prepare the ingredients.

If using leg or shoulder meat, remove from the bone and dice into small pieces. If using fresh tomatoes, peel them by blanching in boiling water and then chop finely. Drain and slice the mozzarella.

Make the lamb sauce.

Brown the lamb in olive oil in a large skillet. Once the meat is browned, add the tomatoes and simmer for about 15 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Cook the pasta.

Whilst the sauce is simmering put a pot of water on to boil for the pasta. Add salt once it boils and bring to a boil again. Cook the orecchiette slightly less than al dente. The pasta will finish cooking in the oven. Fresh pasta cooks a lot faster than dried pasta.

Finish, bake and serve.

Once the pasta is cooked, save a little of the cooking water, drain the pasta and add it to the sauce. Mix together well.
Make a layer of orecchiette and lamb sauce in the bottom of an oven dish. Place pieces of mozzarella on top of the pasta and sprinkle generously with pecorino. Make a second layer of pasta and lamb sauce and repeat the layer of cheese. Depending on the size of your oven dish, you can make 2 or 3 layers.
Finally bake the orecchiette with lamb in a preheated oven at 180°c (356°f) for about 20 minutes or until the top starts to crisp and brown. Allow to rest for 5 minutes then serve.

Notes

If your sauce seems dry you can add more tomato passata or some of the pasta cooking water you saved.

This recipe can also be made with other types of short pasta such as cavatelli, penne and fusilli.

Keep leftovers sealed in the fridge for 2-3 days. Reheat in the oven or microwave. I don't recommend freezing leftovers.

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