Agnello Pasquale con Piselli (Traditional Lamb with Peas)

 Amongst the strawberries and the curly cale, grow my peas...

I was watching a show on TV, a couple of weeks ago. A chef, who I really like, was in Puglia, in a beautiful old farmhouse, and he announced he was going to make "Agnello con piselli" "Lamb with Peas." I got quite excited, as this is a favourite Easter Monday dish, in Puglia, made with lamb, peas,onions and eggs. It's really delicious and "Green". In fact, the local name for this dish is "Verdetto" ("verde" meaning green, in Italian.)

I was very disappointed when the chef, a really sweet Italian man, who lives and works in England, rather than produce the original dish, from my region, made a dish which consisted of: meat, carrots, potatoes, onions, peppers, some peas, lemon, vinegar, white wine... and the list continues: thyme, rosemary and  tomatoes! Oh, yes! And five anchovy fillets!

So, I decided to cook and post the real, original recipe for Lamb with Peas, Il Verdetto di Pasqua (Easter Green Lamb and Peas.) This dish is eaten on Easter Monday (Lunedi` dell'Angelo) and it is made using ingredients available in Spring: lamb, peas (possibly fresh) and eggs. Nice and simple and very traditional. Like any great Italian dishes, just a few ingredients combined to produce intense Mediterranean flavour.

Agnello con piselli

(Lamb with peas)

Ingredients

Serves 4

8 Lamb chops

5 generous glugs oil

1large onion, chopped or sliced

1 glass white wine

450 g ( about 1 lb) fresh or frozen peas

2 eggs, beaten

salt

black pepper

chopped parsley.

I used lamb chops for this dish (use any cut as long as the meat can be cooked quickly.) I sliced my onion quite roughly. I then put some olive oil in a large frying pan (a saucepan is fine, too.) When the oil became really hot, I put in my onion, stirred and browned. At this point I added the lamb and, again, I let it brown on a high heat.

When the lamb started to look really golden, I added a small glass of white wine and let the whole thing simmer and reduce. If it looked dry, I would add half a glass of water and, eventually, some salt and lots of black pepper, because I love it!

When you knew my meat was almost done, I added all the peas, stirred and added some water ( just half a glass or so.) I covered the pan and let my dish simmer, until all the ingredients were cooked.

almost done!

In a small bowl, I whisked two eggs, added some parsley, then lifted the lid off my pan and poured the beaten egg over the lamb and peas.

eggs with parsley and some salt

I mixed everything together, seasoned again and then I just couldn't help but take a deep breath in, to inhale the fantastic combination of flavours and aromas. The black pepper and the parsley predominant, always a super "Duo!" What a delicious dish! Certainly a tradition to preserve and hand down!

Agnello con Piselli