New York Times

Paola Di Mauro’s Roman Lamb

This recipe came to The Times in 1994 via Paola di Mauro, an Italian grandmother who lived, cooked and made wine in Marina, a small suburban town some 12 miles southeast of Rome. She was one of a band of cooks, mostly women, stretching back over generations, who have formed Italian cuisine, maintained its traditions and made it one of the world's most beloved and sought-after cooking styles. Italians sometimes call it "cucina casalinga," roughly translated as "housewives' cooking." But with its intense concern for the quality of primary ingredients and its care to combine them in a judicious balance of flavors, it is much more than that. Use the best ingredients you can find. Then let the simplicity of the preparations work its magic.