Lamb, fancy and everyday

 

 

Lamb ragu before cheese is sprinkled on it

Have you priced lamb at the market lately? A bone-in leg of lamb can cost anywhere from forty dollars to eighty—and eBay shows one for $140. A Frenched rack of lamb is over a hundred dollars. Lamb shoulder chops are a good buy, but I have not yet figured out how to cook them so they are not tough.

Many Texans think you raise sheep for their wool and wouldn’t think of eating lamb. Others just plain don’t like the taste, with its hint of gaminess (I have a son like that). On the other hand, I grew up with a father who was most British in his taste about many things, including food. Dad loved a good leg of lamb, and I remember how special a cold lamb sandwich with mayonnaise was the next day. I have cooked leg of lamb and enjoyed it, but the price is beyond me these days. Nonetheless I’m including my favorite leg of lamb recipe—and a much easier way to buy and cook the meat.

Once when I served a leg of lamb at a dinner party, one guest said, “I’ll give you $8,000 for the recipe.” So now I call it my $8,000 Leg of Lamb. Here’s what I did:

Ingredients

About 5 white-skinned potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced

3 onions, thinly sliced

3 tomatoes, thinly sliced

Salt and pepper

Dried thyme

Chopped garlic

¾ c. white wine

⅓ c. vegetable oil

6-7-lb. leg of lamb, excess fat trimmed but bone in

Directions

What makes this good is that the lamb juices drip into the vegetables, making them taste incredible. Grease a 9x13 pan and layer the bottom with sliced potatoes. Add onions and then tomatoes. Sprinkle each layer with salt, pepper, dried thyme, and a little chopped garlic. Pour white wine and vegetable oil over the vegetables. Cover pan with a cake or oven rack.

Season lamb to taste with salt and pepper and set it on the cake rack. Roast at 400° until meat thermometer registers 145° (about 75 minutes—the lamb will be medium rare; roast longer for better done, but don’t overdo it!). Turn the lamb every 20 minutes or so and baste with liquids from the vegetables. Remove from oven and let it collect itself before carving.

 

Want a cheaper, easier lamb fix. I served this lamb ragu a couple of nights ago and got family raves—Jacob even liked it, and he doesn’t like ground meat much. A ragu is simply a meat-based pasta sauce.

Lamb ragu ingredients

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, chopped fine

3 garlic cloves, minced

Salt and pepper to taste

2 anchovy filets (you can omit them, but they add a wonderful depth to the sauce, and you won’t taste fishiness)

3 Tbsp. tomato paste

1 tsp dried thyme

1 28-oz can diced tomatoes in tomato sauce (San Marzano is a good label)

12 oz. pasta, your choice from spaghetti to egg noodles; I probably would not use rigatoni or other tubular pasta (see note: you might choose polenta instead of pasta)

Grated Parmesan or Pecorino cheese

Directions

Sauté onion and garlic in oil in heavy Dutch oven. Season with salt and pepper. Add anchovies and cook until the fish dissolves (1 minute). Add tomato paste and thyme and stir to blend thoroughly.

Season the lamb with salt and pepper and add to pot, breaking up chunks as much as possible. Cook until lamb is brown through, and chunks are broken up.

Finally add the diced tomatoes. Stir thoroughly to get up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan, Taste for seasoning, and bring to a simmer. Cook until sauce thickens, about half an hour. Remember that lamb is usually greasier than beef. Before serving you may want to carefully spoon off some grease.

Serve over pasta and spoon grated cheese generously over each serving. 

Note: The picture above is an old one, not taken the night we had ragu this week, and it looks to me like that may be soft polenta under the ragu instead of pasta. Not a bad idea at all.

Enjoy!