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Saturday, February 12, 2011

not-so-rapid Lamb Ragú

Has anybody seen the episode of Nigella Express where Nigella makes a bowl of ultimate comfort in the form of a rapid lamb ragú?  She comes home and in true Nigella-style, throws her bag on the counter, pulls out a pan, and throws a few things in before she even takes off her coat.  One of the steps she takes to make this rapid is using a jar of sweet onion confit.  Well, as much as I liked the sound of that...I was at a loss as to where I could procure such a thing.  I figured slowly caramelizing onions would be just as fabulous.  If not more so.  Also, she uses pancetta...of which I hadn't the cash to buy right then.  I used trusty bacon instead, but reserved it to add back in the end, because I don't like to lose that glorious texture and have to bite into floppy bits.  Also, adding the garlic in...and then pulling it back out when I pull the bacon out to reserve it?  Holy shnikeys.  That leaves slivers of garlic glory!  So, garlicky bacon bits sprinkled over a comforting ragú of lamb and lentils that have sweet onions laced between them!!!  Yeah.  I totally made like Nigella and piled my bowl high whilst batting my bedroom eyes and sashaying off into a world of secret bliss.
not-so-rapid Lamb Ragú
adapted liberally from Nigella Express (Rapid Ragú)
serves 4...or 2 if you're starving...because it's extremely hard to stop eating this!

pat of butter
1 tsp. sugar
3 medium onions, sliced thin
1 Tbs. olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled & smashed
½ lb. bacon, cut in ¼" strips
1 lb. ground lamb
1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes
½ c. water
1/3 c. white wine
1/3 c. lentils, either split or par-boiled ~20 mins.
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
extra-sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
extra-wide egg noodles
Here's the not-so-rapid part...caramelizing the onions.  Place the butter in a large sauté pan over low heat.  Add onions and sprinkle with sugar.  Stir occasionally and cook down until the onions are a deep golden color, smell sweet as candy, and have reduced to ~ ½ cup in volume.  This should take about 1 hour.  Set aside and start with the much-more-rapid part.

Heat the oil in a medium-sized saucepan and add garlic.  After 30 seconds, add the bacon.  Cook until bacon is just finished.  Remove it with a slotted spoon to a paper towel-lined plate and reserve.  

Pour off all but 1 Tbs. of the fat in the pan and add the lamb.  Once the lamb has browned, add the tomatoes, water, wine, lentils, and reserved caramelized onions.  Bring to a boil.  Partially cover, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for ~20 minutes, stirring from time to time.  Once lentils have cooked all the way through, it's done.

While the ragú is simmering, cook your egg noodles according to package directions.  

Serve a steaming heap of the ragú over the warm egg noodles and sprinkle liberally with the reserved bacon and the cheese.


I found myself wishing I'd doubled...or even tripled this recipe.  It is a pot full of pure comfort.  And don't we all need a little comfort in our lives?  Yes.  We do.

*I am sending this over to Pia at Cook Healthy who is hosting Presto Pasta Nights #201 this week!

PrestoPastaNights

Would you like to comment?

  1. Now I'm torn between this and your last beef dish for Monday night dinner :) Holy shnikeys is right!

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  2. The not-so-fast part is the yummiest!

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  3. Heather, you made me laugh reading this, I can just picture Nigella (and you) making this and piling her bowl high and batting her eyes, lol. I love a good ragu, haven't had one in ages and I adore lamb. I agree with Dan, the best part is those lovely onions!

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  4. Well Heather this looks delicious. I've never seen a can of that stuff either but it sounds like this dish is worth the time to make them yourself. As always, the "not so fast" part is always the best.

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  5. I don't like floppy bits of bacon either. Good call!

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  6. Why why why do yo have to make it so hard for the no meat eaters... why...

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  7. Sounds absolutely fabulous! And to top it off, I do have onion confit that I made with my garden onions. I am going to go find my Nigella cookbook and pull it out for next week! Thank you for sharing this.

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  9. I'll sacrifice the time to make the caramelized onions and garlicky bacon bits for this. Definite comfort food. I might have to quadruple the recipe.

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  10. Nope. No one wants to bite into floppy bits.

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  11. Yes to comfort, yes to doubling the recipe and yes to bookmarking this dish in particular. Thanks for sharing with Presto Pasta Nights.

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  12. Omg, thats definitely a comforting food..

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  13. Wow - the ultimate comfort food! It is very chilly here in Florida today (maybe 40's) and I would just love to have a bowl of this deliciousness right now. I also love caramelized onions and they are a labor of love - totally worth it though if you ask me. Thanks for this delicious recipe:)

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  14. Gorgeous. I tried Giada's lamb ragu a couple of years ago and it looks like I need to give Nigella's a try to--it looks amazing.

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  15. I love caramelized onions! SO worth it! It looks great!

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  16. i've never seen nigella, but even through her commercials i like her. this looks incredible!

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  17. Darn, I made lamb for dinner tonight! I would have loved to "throw" this dish together.

    P.S. I'm so impatient when it comes to caramelizing onions. Beat me with a wet noodle:)

    Thanks for sharing, Heather. Yum!!!

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  18. yes.we.do! This is just beautiful. Mmmmm......

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  19. yum i wish ground lamb was easier to find here

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  20. Love the not-so-rapid! We don't eat lamb very often because I don't really know what to do with it. My husband loves lamb. I'll have to make this for him.

    Kristi

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  21. Lamb...egg noodles..bacon...I'm already sold. This looks like a meal worth your time! I hope you have a wonderful Sunday. Rest, rejuvenate and spread some love!

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  22. Nigella can come in my house and make me lamb ragu for me anyday...haha.

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  23. This is very hard for me to follow as I love meats but do not cook it, basically I am drooling over the pictures (we eat out for meats) so I am going to bookmark this one and make a veg one. What say?

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  24. I do love all ragu. Making it with ground lamb and then adding the caramelized onions is inspired. I appreciate ragu more when it simmers awhile. The meat truly is immersed in flavor. In fact, making a ragu today.

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  25. It drives me nuts when she starts cooking without taking off her coat! Almost as bad as not tying her hair back. But this ragu looks so delicious!

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  26. Sigh.....Nigella. Nigella, Nigella, Nigella. (Picture me staring out of the window day dreaming, wistfully.)

    Oh yeah, sorry, lamb. This looks rich and enough to put me in a coma after eating. Perfect!

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  27. Rapid or not, this looks fabulous. :) Hubby love lamb- I love caramelized onions. Win-win. :)

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  28. Lamb, bacon and cheddar cheese over some egg noodle - what's not for a girl to like? That looks simply fabulous. I'll have to file this away until I have some ground lamb at home. Thanks.

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  29. Sheesh - I so want a big bowl of this. I love watching Nigella Express, and I can appreciate its place for people who are time deprived, but I always find myself wanting to slow it down and take the long way round. I would definitely rather caramelise my own onions than scoop some out of a jar. But I also know that both have their place.

    Thanks for sharing your not-so-rapid version and love your treatment of the bacon & garlic - now that I have some home-cured bacon (really not bragging, really), I'm going to give this a try.

    Sue xo

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  30. I love that this has lentils and I love making ragu...when I am feeling nice I even make them with meat for my family, this is a great one :)

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  31. The Lamb Ragu was a big hit on Valentine's Day. My wife loved it. I was so glad 'cuz I'm never sure about trying new things on "special" days, but it was wonderful. It'll definitely get a repeat performance

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  32. Wonderful! That's great to hear, Dick =)

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  33. Another hit here! I wasn't expecting much based on my limited cooking prowess, but the ragu was amazing...and deserves to be shared with the world for sure! Thanks!

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