I love lamb and am always looking for new ways to prepare it at home. This past weekend, I have ground lamb left and since my guy had asked me to make meat sauce, I decided to use the lamb to make it, but add some lamb-friendly flavors. I did add some ground pork as the lamb is just too lean, in my opinion, for this type of sauce.
The rigatoni I like to use is by Delverde Pasta, the best dry pasta I’ve come across. The dollop of mint sheep’s ricotta just adds a new texture to the dish and amazing flavor. There will be sauce leftover after this recipe is made and it can be frozen for up to 2 months.
Sauce Ingredients:
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 medium carrots, finely diced
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, finely minced
- 3/4 pound ground pork
- 3/4 pound ground Lamb
- 3 28-ounce can Italian-style tomatoes, chopped
- 1 6-ounce can of tomato paste
- ½ cup Marsala wine
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp. each, dry mint and salt
- ½ tsp. pepper
Assembly Ingredients:
- 1 cup sheep’s milk ricotta (could use high quality cow’s milk ricotta), at room temperature
- 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh mint
- 16-ounce box of rigatoni, cook to al dente, water drained and pasta returned to the cooking pot
Sauce Directions:
- In a heavy-bottom saucepan or Dutch oven over medium-high, warm the olive oil. Add carrots and onion and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and cook another minute. Reduce heat to medium and cook until vegetables have softened, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Increase heat to high, add meats and sauté until no longer pink, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add tomatoes and their juices, the tomato paste, wine and the spices and stir well. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 2 hours.
Assembly Directions:
- In a small bowl, combine the ricotta and the mint.
- Add enough cooked sauce to the pasta in the pot to coat it, about 4 cups for the six servings.
- Serve the pasta in bowls and add a tablespoonful of ricotta to each bowl. Combine the ricotta with the pasta to create a creamy mixture.
6 Servings.
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