Ceppe con Sugo di Agnello alla Teramana
Abruzzo (Teramo province), central Italy
Ceppe are Teramo's distinctive hand-formed pasta — short, hollow tubes formed by rolling a piece of semolina dough around a metal skewer (ferro) or knitting needle, then sliding the dough off to leave a rough-textured tube approximately 6 cm long and 1 cm in diameter. The sauce is a slow-braised lamb ragù alla teramana: shoulder pieces browned in lard with onion and celery, then braised for 2 hours in white wine, lamb or chicken broth and San Marzano tomatoes. The lamb is pulled from the bone, shredded coarsely and returned to the sauce. Ceppe are cooked al dente and finished in the pan with the ragù, grated Pecorino d'Abruzzo and torn flat-leaf parsley.