Lamb Ragu Not Drowned in Sauce Just The Way My Nona Made It !

Some people have asked me whats the difference between a Ragu and a Ragout? So Here it is no much! Read Below or if you want to skip the boring stuff get into the recipe and enjoy.

The difference between ragu and ragout isn’t really that much ragu is an Italian pasta sauce that is usually made with minced meat or vegetables and ragout is a French style stew that would normally be found on-top of a Paris style mash but the Italians would do this on-top of polenta. To be honest this is more of a ragout but because I’m serving this with pasta and its my Nona’s recipe today its ragu because that’s what we called it.

In our house I cook lamb ragu at least once a month and I love using the lamb shanks as ill always keep some on the bone and serve it with a creamy mash potato or polenta you could also take this mix and make an Italian version of a shepherd’s pie.

My all-time favourite is pasta so what I’m giving you here is the recipe to serve a very large family so prepare for plenty of extras and trust me you will not be sorry.

I’m not going to ramble on about how to make your pasta but do me a favour and don’t drown the pasta in the sauce, let the sauce be one with the pasta so you can taste the actual pasta itself.

I’ve used spaghetti , a nice durum wheat style. (Dolce and Gabbana brand from Simon Johnson) This dish traditionally would be served with pappardelle but I’m not that big a fan I much rather a tagliatelle or linguini.

Finish this dish with a really good extra virgin olive oil I’ve used Lorenzo N.5 again from Simon Johnson. Two cheeses are great here Grana Padano or Pecorino Romano, if you like use a bit of both because that just adds another level of awesomeness and its 2021 so why the bloody hell not.

Approx. 8hrs but for best results marinade overnight

Serves 8 - 10

Ingredients

4 large lamb shanks

2 carrots, cut into brunoise

2 celery sticks, cut into brunoise

2 small red onions, cut into brunoise

4 garlic cloves, chopped finely

1 tablespoon tomato paste

3 cups red wine

4 sprigs thyme

2 sprigs rosemary

300ml lamb or chicken stock, water is also fine

2 x 400g whole tinned tomatoes

100ml olive oil

To Finish

Salt and freshly ground white pepper

1 bunch parsley finely chopped

1 packet of Spaghetti Dolce and Gabbana snapped or 2 packs of any normal pasta

Block of Grana Padano or Pecorino Romano

Lorenzo N.5 extra virgin olive oil or any one that you love

Method

In a deep bowl place, the lamb shanks, carrot, celery, red onion, garlic, thyme and rosemary, add red wine and marinade over night or for at least 3hrs.

The next day strain off the lamb shanks and veggies keeping the wine. Pre heat the oven to 150 degrees. Grab a large heavy based pot or casserole dish, add half the olive oil and on a high heat seal off the lamb shanks until dark brown, set aside.

In the same pot add the remaining oil, veggies and cook for 15 minutes add the tomato paste and cook till split (the oil will come apart from the paste) add the wine and reduce by half, add the lamb shanks, cover with stock and tinned whole tomatoes. Bring to a boil and place in the oven for 3-hrs until shanks are soft and falling from the bone.

Strip the bones of the meat and shred being careful not to burn yourself. Remove the Thyme and Rosemary and discard. Simmer the sauce until reduced by almost half. At this stage I like to crush the tomatoes and squash some of the vegetables, add the Shredded lamb shank meat back to the sauce and season with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Place a large stock pot of salted water on the boil, add the pasta and cook for 7 minutes (if using Dolce Gabbana) or whatever your packet of pasta says cook 1 minute less. Drain the pasta and back in to the pasta pot add all the ragu sauce, mix well and add the pasta. Turn the heat back on high and cook for a further minute stirring regularly. Add the chopped parsley and remove from the heat taste for seasoning and serve immediately with the cheese of your choice grated on-top and a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, freshly torn basil is also a great addition here if you would like.

As You Can See The Sauce is One With The Pasta Make Sure You Grab All The Bits From The Side Of The Pot

You could cook less pasta and save some of the ragu for another day or another dish this ragu will last about 2 weeks in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer.

Up Close And Personal Thats What You Want Everything To Stick To the Pasta

The Recipe below is one of the easiest home-made gnocchi recipes ever, you literally can make it from scratch in under 20 minutes.

If you really have time you could boil up about 1kg of potato and mash them into this mix for potato and ricotta gnocchi and that just really lifts this dish to the next level and gives the gnocchi a little more texture and making it a more traditional style Italian gnocchi.

Although if you are lazy like me sometimes store-bought gnocchi is fine too. Remember these recipes are guides for you to do what you want, simple dishes to make for your family and friends in the comfort of your own home with no dramas.

Essentially this is a Bolognese with lamb. Feel free to use veal, beef and even chicken can be a really good substitute. I’ve also had this with pork which is seriously yummy.

I remember my grandpa used to make his Bolognese with pork, beef and veal so you can do the old combo here as well.

I’ve gone for lamb as it’s what I had in the fridge at the time. A bold red wine like Barolo is great here but really any red will do, if you are like me you’ll want to cook with what your drinking and trust me Barolo here is the go to wine in my opinion.

Give this ago and even if it’s only two of you, you’ll have lunch and dinner for a week!

Ingredients

Serves 5-6 people

Time approx. 2hrs

For The Ricotta Gnocchi

450g whole milk ricotta cheese (drained of excess water)

3 egg yolks

1 cup (265g 00 flour)

3/4 cup (about 1 ounce) freshly-grated Parmesan

3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly-cracked black pepper

Lamb Rague Bolognese

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 large carrots, finely chopped

1 large onion, finely chopped

100g thickly sliced pancetta, cut into 1/4-inch dice

600g lamb, coarsely minced

3/4 cup of Barolo red wine (or any red wine you wish)

1 x 450g Italian tomatoes, coarsely chopped, juices reserved

1 cup chicken stock

1 bay leaf

150g buffalo mozzarella torn

60g pecorino cheese

Extra virgin olive oil to serve

Salt and freshly ground white pepper

Method

Bring a large stockpot of generously-salted water to a boil over high heat.

Add to a large bowl the egg yolks and ricotta and stir briefly to combine. Add in the flour, Parmesan, salt and pepper, and stir until evenly combined. Avoid over-mixing. The dough will be a bit moist and maybe a bit sticky, but it should hold together. If it feels too wet, just add in another few tablespoons of flour.

Shape the dough into a round disk with your hands, then transfer it to a lightly-floured cutting board and sprinkle the dough lightly with flour. Using a knife cut the dough into eight even wedges. Using your hands, gently roll out each wedge into an even log, approximately 3/4-inch wide. Cut each log into individual bite-sized little gnocchi squares. Lightly dust the gnocchi with flour once more and give them a quick toss so that they are all lightly coated with flour. (This will help prevent them from sticking together.)

Being careful in two batches transfer the gnocchi to boiling water. Cook usually for around 30 seconds or till they float. Drain the gnocchi and set aside to cool.

For the lamb ragu In a medium size pot, heat 1/4 cup of the olive oil until shimmering. Add the carrots and onion, cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened and just beginning to brown, about 12 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a plate.

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in the same pot. Add the pancetta and stir once or twice over moderately high heat until sizzling. Add the lamb and cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has evaporated and the meat is browned, 10 minutes. Return the vegetables. Add the red wine and simmer until evaporated, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.

Add the tomatoes and their juices, the chicken stock, bay leaf and Season with salt and black pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to moderately low, cover partially and simmer, stirring occasionally, cook for 45 minutes. Discard the bay leaf.

Set the oven to 180 degrees. Take 1kg of cold gnocchi and stir it through the ragu once evenly distributed and nice and saucy pour the gnocchi ragu into a baking dish big enough to fit all of the mixture in comfortably. Break over the buffalo mozzarella and grate over the pecorino generously.

Place in the oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Serve immediately with sourdough bread and lashings of extra virgin olive oil.

Nona's Lamb Ragu Or Ragout ??

Baked Ricotta Gnocchi With Lamb Ragu