January 5th 2025.
In this month's food feature, Rosie Morton had the pleasure of sitting down with the talented Roberta Hall-McCarron, an esteemed chef from Edinburgh who recently took home the prize for best fish dish in the 2021 season of The Great British Menu. As they chatted, it became clear that Roberta finds inspiration all around her - from the delicate snowdrops emerging in the early spring, to the vibrant colors and sounds of summer, and even the warm glow of autumn. Her new cookbook, The Changing Tides, beautifully captures the natural beauty of each season and the delectable flavors that come with it. Lucky for us, Roberta has graciously shared some of her amazing recipes, including her mouthwatering pappardelle with lamb shoulder ragout.
According to Roberta, the key to this dish is using a high-quality lamb stock, rather than relying on stock cubes. She recommends either purchasing lamb bone broth online or mixing Truefoods lamb gravy with water. As for the other ingredients, you'll need a small lamb shoulder, fennel seeds, bay leaves, sea salt, fennel bulb, onion, and 2.5 liters of lamb stock. For the homemade pappardelle, you'll need '00' pasta flour, whole eggs, egg yolks, and for serving, a recipe for pangrattato (which Roberta kindly credits to Rebecca Dickson).
To get started, preheat your oven to 170°C fan. Place the lamb shoulder in a roasting tin, sprinkle with fennel seeds, bay leaves, and salt, then add the chopped fennel and onion on top. Pour the lamb stock over everything and cover the tin with foil. Let it bake for four hours until the meat is tender and falls off the bone. While the lamb is cooking, you can make the pasta dough by combining flour, eggs, and yolks in a bowl or stand mixer until fully incorporated. Knead the dough by hand for five minutes, then let it rest in the fridge for a couple of hours.
Once the meat is cooked, remove it from the stock and let it cool before shredding it into smaller pieces. Strain the stock and reduce it until it reaches a thick sauce consistency. Then, add the lamb back in and mix it all together. For the pappardelle, cut the dough in half and roll it out through a pasta machine until it becomes a thin sheet. Cut the sheet into 20cm lengths and then use a pasta cutter to create 5cm wide pappardelle. Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water for 2-3 minutes before mixing it with the lamb ragout and serving it with pangrattato on top.
Speaking of pangrattato, Roberta notes that it's an excellent way to add texture to a dish and suggests adding yeast flakes for a delicious umami flavor. To make it, mix panko breadcrumbs, yeast flakes, and garlic powder together. Heat sunflower oil in a pan and add the breadcrumb mixture, cooking until golden and crispy. Drain on a paper towel and sprinkle over your pappardelle.
The Changing Tides by Roberta Hall-McCarron is available for purchase at £25 and is filled with more amazing recipes. And don't forget to subscribe to Scottish Field to stay up to date on all the latest food and drink news.
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