Zampina are lamb sausages from Puglia. I first heard of them from my friend Michele in Montreal. He kindly shared the recipe and my first improvisation with them was inspired by the memory of a terrific lamb sandwich first eaten at Philadelphia restaurant  Paesano's in Philadelphia.

Wrapped in panelle, a chick pea pancake (or fritter – a basic Sicilian street food) Paesano's sandwich was a delicious wrap mixing pickeled fennel, and mint redolent along with moist lamb. So when Michelle introduced me to zampina, I had to test it with panelle and salsicce. 

For the holidays I did another batch of home-made zampina, mixing pork, lamb, parsley, white wine, sale e pepe, and some great tomato paste I got at Gustiamo in "da Bronx." Rather than use them in a sandwich (or wrap) I had these with some homemade rigatoni made from a mix of milled, kamut, semolina, and rye. Delicious.