Lamb (or Mushroom) Bucatini with Rapini

Lamb (or Mushroom) Bucatini with Rapini

Side view of a blue plate of bucatini with specs of rapini and lamb and topped with grated parm

This pasta is delightful enough to take to a potluck or make for a date! The vegan version is just as good and both can be ready in <15 mins! So garlicky, so good. 

Serves 2

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 200g dried bucatini (or any other pasta)
  • 200g ground lamb (see notes below re: mushrooms!)
  • 1 bunch of rapini
  • ½ a lemon
  • 2 tbsp Mogambo Spiced Garlic Spread
  • 1 tsp butter
  • 2 tbsp salt
  • 50g parmesan

Method:

  1. Bring a pot of water to boil, add the salt. Add the pasta and cook 1 minute under package instructions. 
  2. Heat a pan over a high heat, until it’s smoking. Add the butter and quickly add the lamb. Stir, breaking up the big lumps and allow it to brown on one side. While that cooks, slice the rapini into 1cm pieces, stem and all. This recipe comes together really quickly, so don’t worry about doing this beforehand.
  3. When the lamb is browned, add the rapini and stir. If the lamb needs a few more minutes to cook, just take the pan off the heat and set aside. 
  4. When the pasta is ready, transfer it into the pan with the lamb and rapini with a pair of tongs. Don’t bother draining it, as you want some of the pasta water. Don’t discard the pasta water, you’ll likely need to add more. 
  5. Put the pan back on a high heat, and allow it to come to a boil. Add the Mogambo, and stir to combine. Add around a quarter cup of pasta water, and let it emulsify into a sauce. You want there to be enough sauce to coat the noodles. The pasta will absorb a lot of the liquid as it sits, so add more water than you think you’ll need. 
  6. To serve, add the pasta into bowls, grate the parm over, and grate some lemon zest over to finish. 

Notes: We used ground lamb, but feel free to use ground beef, chicken, or pork. 

Make it vegan: Use mushrooms instead of the meat, sub in olive oil for the butter, and use some sauteed breadcrumbs instead of the parm. Honestly, the vegan version is just as good, if not better than the meat version.