Pulled Lamb with Nduja and Borlotti Beans
By Lee Jackson ↣ Published on: December 13, 2024
This Italian inspired pulled lamb is packed with so much flavour. Cooked low and slow with nduja sausage and borlotti beans, the lamb is meltingly tender and the sauce one of the most aromatic you’ll ever taste. It’s a miraculously delicious dish for sure!
This recipe has been a long time in the making. It has been inspired by a couple of dishes I experienced over a couple of years. The first a rustic stew I ate in Italy and another a memorable dish from a restaurant in Edinburgh. My version is a happy marriage of both and it's a firm favourite for sure.
Pull-apart lamb is flavoured with lightly spiced nduja sausage from Calabria, the two are a happy pairing leaving us with the most fragrant, colourful, rich and flavourful sauce. I finish the dish with cooked borlotti beans to make it a hearty, one-pot meal.
Why you'll love it...
It's such a dreamy combination of flavour. In itself it's a simple dish to pull together, but the ready made flavour bomb that is nduja sausage really brings the wow to the dish. Pulled pork beef can be a little dry in my experience, but lamb is another story. It's so moist, tender and juicy.
This dish is a real celebration of Italian flavours and a dish I'll prepare for special occasions or celebrations. But honestly, I've made it for a midweek dinner too. I like it best with boneless shoulder of leg as it lends itself to being pulled apart later without any bones, but a bine-in cut is fine too, you'll just have a little extra work later.
Stuff You'll Need
My pulled lamb features readily available ingredients for the most part. The ony thing you'll have to hunt out is the Nduja sausage, but that is becoming easier to find these days. You can also use Spanish chorizo or Italian salami too as a substitute.
- Lamb - boneless shoulder or leg is what I use.
- Nduja - brings colour, flavour and just a little warming spice too.
- Onion, carrot, celery and garlic - add the backbone to the sauce.
- Bay leaves and Rosemary - bring the herbal aromatics.
- Tomato, tomato concentrate and beef broth - embolden the sauce and amp up the flavour.
- Borlotti beans - I use canned beans and add towards the end of cooking to save time. It creates a more substatial pulled lamb and one-pot meal.
Step by Step
All you need is a little time to develop this dish, the rest is simple - here's how it's done.
- Step 1 - If the lamb comes in one of those roasting nets, remove it and unfurl the meat. Then, using a little oil in a Dutch oven, brown the lamb on both sides then remove from the pan.
- Step 2 - Add the onion, celery, carrot, garlic and bay leaves to the pan and saute until just soft.
- Step 3 - Add the nduja and let it melt into the mixture
- Step 4 - Add the tomato and tomato concentrate and stir
- Step 5 - Return the meat to the pan and top up with the beef broth. Pop in the rosemary and then season with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer then remove from the heat and bake in a preheated oven at 320ºF/160ºC for 3 hours.
- Step 6 - Skim off any fat from the surface (there may be quite a bit) and then add the beans. Return to the oven for 10 more minutes to cook the beans a little before serving.
Serving & Storage Suggestions
- I'll serve mine direct from the pan, in the centre of the table and often simply served with some steamed broccolini or asparagus , or both. I'll also always have a plentiful supply of bread to help soak up the delicious sauce.
- It's also particularly nice, although completely un-Italian, with a dollop of sour cream, creme fraiche or plain yoghurt.
- Fridge - this is a dish best served after a sit in the fridge. Try if you can, to keep yours in the fidge for 1-2 days before reheating - the flavour is so much more pronounced. The pulled lamb will be good for 7-8 days in the fridge, well covered.
- Freezer - it's also a great dish for the freezer. I'll portion mine into plastic containers and reheat in a microwave until piping hot. They're perfect for a wintery lunch with nothing more than a few slices of sourdough bread to mop up the juices. The lamb will be good for 3+ months in the freezer.
Ready to get cooking?
For a warming and filling dish, you should look no further than this superbly flavourful pulled lamb. It's Italian in style with the complex aromatics of nduja that make it so special. And the best thing of all is that it's simple to put together at home. I'm sure you'll enjoy this as much as do!
More Italian recipes
If you enjoyed this pulled lamb recipe, I'm sure you'll love some more of my favourite Italian ecipes.
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Ingredients
- 2.2 lb boneless lamb shoulder or leg (1kg) (taken out of the roasting netting if it has one)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion peeled and chopped 1 carrot (chopped)
- 2 sticks celery chopped
- 4 cloves garlic chopped
- 4 bay leaves
- 3½ oz nduja sausage (100g)
- 1 tbsp tomato concentrate
- 1 tomato roughly chopped
- 27 oz beef broth (stock) (800ml)
- 2 sprigs rosemary
- Salt & pepper
- 1 can cooked borlotti beans (14oz/400g)(drained)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 320ºF/160ºC
- Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven (cast iron casserole pan, that has a lid) over a moderate heat until hot. Add the lamb in one piece and brown for 2-3 minutes per side, then remove from the pan and set aside.
- Keep the heat at a medium temperature and then add the onion, carrot, celery, garlic and bay leaves and fry for 5 minutes until soft.
- Add the nduja sausage and let this fry for 3-4 minutes until it melts into the mixture.
- Add the tomato concentrate and chopped tomato and then the beef stock and stir well.
- Return the lamb to the pan and push it down to submerge as much as you can. Push the rosemary into the liquid and then season with a little salt (around 1tsp) and a generous grind of black pepper (about 1 tsp).
- Let the liquid come to a simmer on the stove then remove from the heat, pop on the lid and place in the oven on a middle shelf. Cook for 3 hours until the lamb is soft. Skim or pour off any fat from the pan (there may be quite a lot).
- Add the beans to the pan and cook for another 10 minutes in the oven.
- Remove from the heat and using two forks, gently pull the lamb apart into pieces. I prefer to eat larger pieces rather than very thin strands, so I’m careful not to overdo this stage.
- Leave to cool slightly then serve from the pan with steamed vegetables, or a salad and lots of bread.
Notes
- Fridge - this is a dish best served after a sit in the fridge. Try if you can, to keep yours in the fidge for 1-2 days before reheating - the flavour is so much more pronounced. The pulled lamb will be good for 7-8 days in the fridge, well covered.
- Freezer - it's also a great dish for the freezer. I'll portion mine into plastic containers and reheat in a microwave until piping hot. They're perfect for a wintery lunch with nothing more than a few slices of sourdough bread to mop up the juices. The lamb will be good for 3+ months in the freezer.
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