Last night we went to Spiazzo in West Portal for dinner, with Dave H. and Rick (ricksf). It's our favorite Italian place in that neighborhood, and I had pappardelle all'agnello, which is long, wide egg noodles in a red sauce with braised lamb. It was so good, I wanted it again tonight. I came home a little early from work and made a cheap imitation:

Lacking pancetta, I browned some diced turkey bacon in a little olive oil, then added chopped onions and garlic and red pepper flakes. Being fresh out of lamb, I thawed some frozen carnitas in the microwave, then cut it up and added it to the pan. After the vegetables softened and the pork browned a bit, I deglazed with a couple of turns of red wine, then added chopped fresh sage, dried basil, a bay leaf, two cans of tomato puree and a can of chopped tomatoes. Let it simmer awhile, then added some capers and turned the heat way down. We happened to have some whole-wheat pappardelle from Trader Joe's in the pantry, so I cooked it al dente, then added it to the sauce with a handful of parmesan cheese, just as rootbeer1 walked in the door. He said it was better than his gnocchi last nght!