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The dish
Grilled lamb and coratella
Two ways of cooking lamb, from the grill to the pan.
In shepherds’ Abruzzo, lamb is the dish of spring and Easter. The best parts, such as chops and leg in pieces, are cooked over the embers with very little seasoning, to taste the meat itself.
The offal makes up the coratella: heart, liver and lungs cut into small pieces and cooked in the pan with onion and wine, often with seasonal artichokes. They are served together, with country bread and a glass of red.
What you need
Ingredients
Serves 4.
For the grilled lamb
- 1.2 kg lamb chops and pieces
- Rosemary
- Coarse salt and pepper
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 lemon
For the coratella
- 1 lamb coratella (about 500 g)
- 2 onions
- 2–3 artichokes (optional)
- Half a glass of white wine
- Oil, salt, pepper, chilli
Step by step
Method
- Prepare the wood embers and wait until they are well burnt down and covered with pale ash.
- Lightly oil the meat with rosemary; grill the chops for 4–5 minutes per side, longer for larger pieces, turning once.
- Season at the end with coarse salt and pepper and serve with a lemon wedge.
- For the coratella, clean the offal and cut it into small pieces, keeping the lungs and heart separate from the liver, which cooks faster.
- In a pan soften the sliced onions in oil; add the lungs and heart and brown over high heat.
- Deglaze with the wine, add the artichokes in wedges and cook for 15 minutes; add the liver only in the last 5 minutes.
- Season with salt, pepper and chilli and serve the coratella hot beside the lamb.
From our home kitchen
Tips
- Take the meat out of the fridge half an hour before cooking.
- Overcooked liver goes tough: always add it last.
- Let the lamb rest for two minutes after grilling before serving.
Note: coratella must be bought very fresh, ideally from a trusted butcher on the day.
Gallery
Photos
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Tradition
History and trivia
In Abruzzo’s pastoral culture lamb was eaten rarely, almost only at Easter, and nothing of the animal was thrown away: the meat went on the embers, the offal became coratella, the head and trotters went into soups.
Easter lunch in many homes around L’Aquila still begins with coratella and continues with grilled or roast lamb.
Did you know? coratella with artichokes is common throughout central Italy, but in Abruzzo it is also made with eggs, like lamb cacio e ova.