You've had beef ragu, you've tried pork ragu, but have you made your favourite pasta sauce using lamb? If you haven't then you're truly missing out.
For me lamb is made for slow cooking (unless you have a delicious rack of course) but the fat that runs through most cuts of lamb just adds so much flavour to a dish, and so what better recipe to use it for then a super easy, super indulgent ragu sauce. Have a read through the ingredients and method before you give it a go, you'll see there's no fancy ingredients or method, you just brown it all off and pop it in the oven. DOUBLE CREAM... I hear you scream, yes that's not a typo, most Italian meat sauces are traditionally finished of with milk or cream as it adds yet another dimension to the already delicious sauce. Still sceptical, give it a try and thank Italy later!!
Prep time 15mins
Cooking time 3.5hrs
350g diced lamb shoulder or neck, its best to buy one large piece and dice it yourself into larger 2inch chunks
Salt and pepper
3tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
2 celery sticks, diced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2tsp dried oregano
3tsp dried basil
1 sprig fresh rosemary
250ml red wine
300ml passata
1tsp sugar
300ml lamb or beef stock
1tbsp Worcestershire sauce
100ml double cream
Cooked pasta
2tsp fresh basil, chopped
Few grinds of black pepper
Grated Parmesan
1. Pre heat your oven to 160c
2. In a deep saucepan (preferably oven proof) heat the oil on a medium to high heat, season the diced lamb with a pinch of salt and pepper, about 1/2 a tsp of each.
3. Add the lamb to the pan and brown all over, you can do this in batches so you don't over crowd the pan if necessary. Once browned remove and set aside.
4. In the same pan, turn the heat down to low to medium and add a drizzle more olive oil and add the diced onion, carrot and celery, gently sauté for around 8mins. The veg should be soft and smelling lovely by this time. If at any point your pan gets to dry add a splash of water so that the veggies don't stick or burn.
5. Now add your garlic, oregano, basil and rosemary and cook gently for around 3 minutes, until the herbs are smelling lovely and fragrant. The same rule as above applies, if the pan gets to hot please add a splash of water... burnt garlic is the pits and will ruin any dish.
6. Now that the veg is soft and the herbs are fragrant re-add your diced lamb, turn the heat up to a high-medium and pour in the red wine. We are looking to cook out the alcohol so cook on this heat until the wine has reduced by half.
7. Next step is to add everything else (except the double cream), so you should have, passata, sugar, stock and Worcestershire sauce to add so chuck it all in. The liquid should now be covering the meat by about 2cm, if not just add a splash of water to top it up.
8. Allow your sauce to bubble away gently for 10 mins on the hob, if your saucepan isn't ovenproof then transfer in to an oven proof dish, cover with a lid and pop in the oven for around 3 hours, checking every 40mins or so to make sure its not dried up. If it does look to dry then just top it up with boiling water.
9. After the cooking time remove carefully from the oven, the meat should be soft and falling apart. Remove the rosemary stalk and try to remove as much fat from the liquid as possible.
10. We're looking for a nice thick sauce that will coat our pasta so if the sauce seems to liquidy pop it back into a saucepan (be very careful as the liquid will be hot, use a ladle) and turn the heat to medium high and allow the cooking liquor to reduce until its a nice thick sauce consistancy.
11. Once you have the right consistency let the sauce cool slightly and add in the cream (don't add the cream when the sauce is to hot or it the cream will split) stir well until you have a silky scrumptious sauce. Have a taste, you can add some more salt and pepper if you require.
12. Serve with your cooked pasta and sprinkle with some fresh basil, black pepper and parmesan.
If using a slow cooker - Follow steps 2-7, then transfer it to your slow cooker, cook on high for 30mins to 1hr and then turn on to low for a further 5hours. After the 5 hours the meat should be cooked and falling apart, now follow steps 9-12.
