Pasta and Ragu. Possibly the most classic and with so many options, it is the go to dinner for a lot of folks. There's spaghetti and bolognese from the north, seafood linguines from the south, and now Birria Tagliatelle from Mexico??!!
In a large, high-walled pot, add your dry spices and chillies, and on a medium heat, toast them until they start to crack and pop. Remove from the pot.
In the same pot, on high heat, sear your onion, tomatoes and garlic until charred. Add back your dry spices, and water to fill the pot at least half way. Bring to the boil, and lower to a simmer for 30 mins to steep all our aromatics.
Once your aromatics have cooked off, and your chillies are now soft, add to a blender with a couple ladles the chilli water. Blend into a thick-ish paste and adjust the consistency with more water if needed.
Add your vinegar, beef stock and salt to taste.
Cut your lamb into cubes (about a couple inches thick), salt heavily and sear on high heat on all sides to develop a beautiful dark golden crust (do this in the same pot as before). Remove from the pan and set aside.
Add the braising liquid to the lamb, cover with foil and place in the oven at 150-160°c for a minimum of 2-2.5 hours, or until the lamb falls apart with ease (if this doesn't happen after 2.5 hours, just keep it cooking, it will just keep getting tastier).
Now it's time to get that pasta on the hob! Remove the lamb pieces from the braising liquid and shred them up.
In a small pan, heat on medium with some extra virgin olive oil, and add the shredded lamb to warm through. Ladle on some of the sauce to your desired sauciness, and some pasta water, stirring to emulsify. Add your pasta and all that's left is to serve up with all the parmigiano regnano you can imagine, and enjoy!
