Lamb Ragu
Herb Heavy Cooking on the Lamb
Cooking a lamb ragu isn’t the most common, but it is a nice stand in for a more ‘wild’ or ‘gamey’ sauce when things such as wild boar are not readily available.
Additionally, the lamb compliments a whole variety of herbs allowing for a more flexible and deeper sauce than from other, more powerfully flavored meats.
Choosing Your Cut
This recipe uses lamb leg, bought right on the bone. If the cut is small enough, you can cook it right on the bone until it falls off, again similar to the pork or boar sauces around here. Otherwise, take a sharp knife and cut pieces as needed, into equal sized chunks for browning.
While other cuts, such as a shank or rib could work here, the meat to bone ratio of the leg makes this a better bang for your buck.
Sausage as a Sidekick
With lamb being a leaner cut of meat, we’re going to round out this sauce with some mild Italian sausages, decased and cooked up in the pan. Most recipes around here use the hot Sicilian style sausages but for this the “sweet” or “mild” variety is preferred. We want the lamb, and the herbs to shine here versus the calabrian chilis or crushed red pepper that stars in some of our other dishes.
The Herbs
Rosemary is the star here. Since we are using fresh rosemary, it will go in last to avoid burning, alongside the bay leaf.
Dried herbs are a bit more durable, so we will gently cook some oregano and thyme in our cooking oil. Any other dried herbs can be added as well- including some dried rosemary if you just can’t get enough.
Ready To Get Started?
Depending on the size of your lamb, this sauce can take anywhere from 5-8 hours until the meat is falling off the bone, and ready to be shredded by fork. Plan ahead, or store this in the fridge for up to one week from cooking.
What you’ll need
Serves 4-6 people
1 pound lamb leg (deboned) or 1.5-2lb lamb leg on the bone
2 sweet or mild Sicilian sausages, decased
1/3 cup olive oil
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon total of dried herbs: oregano, thyme, rosemary
1 tablespoon of Calabrian chili paste, or 1 pinch of crushed red pepper
1 cup red wine
2 28oz cans of San Marzano tomatoes, blended
1 tsp each salt and black pepper
2-4 bay leaves
Fresh rosemary
Optional: parsley or rosemary to garnish
Lets Do This
Heat 1-2 tbsp of olive oil in a pot over medium-high heat. When shimmering, add lamb meat and sear roughly 6 minutes on each side or until a brown sear forms. Set aside to drain
Add sausage meat to the pan and brown, breaking apart any large pieces with a wooden spoon. Set aside to drain with the lamb
Lower the heat to medium-low. Add additional olive oil, or butter if preferred, and add garlic. Cook slowly until golden
Add the chili paste or red pepper along with the dried herbs and cook roughly 30 seconds until fragrant
Add the cup of red wine and bring the heat to medium. Cook until wine has reduced by half
Add the tomatoes, salt and pepper and bring to a simmer. Adjust heat to maintain the simmer and add the rosemary and bay leaves
Return all meat to the sauce
Partially cover the pot with a lid, allowing the sauce to simmer but not boil for 5-8 hours, stirring occasionally. If the sauce gets too thick add water to help consistency
When lamb is able to be shredded by fork, discard fresh rosemary springs and bay leaf. Remove lamb from sauce and shred by fork, returning to the sauce 30 minutes prior to serving
Serve over pasta. Leftovers can be refrigerated for up to one week
Need more ragu? We have a private Sunday Sauce class to teach pork ragu!
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