Cooking: Ragu d'Agnello

So, sometimes I cook. I'm not saying I'm going to become a food blogger, mostly because I lack the photography know-how and the will to make a dish more than once. Plus, I feel kind of weird about it? I mean, I don't tweak enough recipes to feel ownership enough to post about them. I could probably do round-up posts for things I make, though. That seems kind of fair--plus, it'll keep me blogging! You may have noticed I've slacked off lately. Summer, y'all. It is a liminal space geared for sleepiness. In any case. I cooked a thing!


Agnello is Italian for lamb.
This recipe is adapted from Dinner in a Bowl: 160 Recipes for Simple, Satisfying Meals, which was published by Better Homes and Gardens. I futzed about with the ingredients of this particular recipe, mostly because if there's one thing I know, it's that doubling the garlic in any stew will result in good things happening. I also adjusted the amounts of a couple of things, and added tomato paste, because the recipe as-is was a bit too soupy for me. If I was to make this again, I'd probably not include thyme. I always forget that I'm not a huge fan of thyme, and so many recipes include it. I need to get The Flavor Bible someday so I can investigate this further.

Ragu d'Agnello
Prep: 25 minutes (I have no idea if this is true. I'm not the only person who wanders off in the middle of chopping foods to watch TV, right?)
Cook: 1 hour or so (it could take less time, but I wanted to let the onions caramelize a bit in the beginning, and wanted a denser sauce overall)
Ingredients:

• Two cups dried orzo, subsequently cooked
• 1/2 large yellow onion, chopped (a little more than half a cup)
• 1/2 cup chopped carrot OR zucchini OR maybe mushrooms would work (I had leftover baby carrots, so I chopped up about two handfuls of those)
• 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound ground lamb
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 28oz can of diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 teaspoon rosemary (original recipe says fresh, but I used dried--I should have reduced this, but I love rosemary)
• 3/4 teaspoon thyme (original recipe says 1 teaspoon fresh)
• 1 tablespoon of tomato paste
• Shaved Parmesan, or whatever mix and form of parmesan/romano/asiago cheese you'd like

1. Boil up the orzo in salted water, about 8-9 minutes--whatever the box recommends for al dente, I'd say. Drain and rinse the pasta in cold water; set aside. And you also can, as I did, put a bit in a small bowl, sprinkle it with cheese, and munch on it as you cook the rest of the stuff.
2. In a saucepan (I used my Dutch oven), heat the olive oil over high heat for a couple of minutes. Reduce heat to medium and cook the onion, carrot, garlic, and crushed red pepper until the onion and carrot are tender, stirring frequently. Five to ten minutes should do it, depending on how "medium" your medium heat is. Don't burn the onions, though! That is a danger in these sorts of situations.
3. Add lamb, salt, and pepper, and cook until the lamb is brown. This should take 10-15 minutes. Depending on how rich you want the end product, drain some of the fat. (I didn't.)
4. Add the wine and cook about 5-10 minutes, until the wine is mostly evaporated.
5. Stir in the tomatoes, rosemary, and thyme. Bring the mixture to a boil, the reduce heat. Add the tomato paste, then simmer, uncovered, about 20-30 minutes. Keep an eye on the consistency--if you want a thicker sauce, you'll want to simmer longer, or perhaps add a little more tomato paste.
6. Serve over orzo, sprinkled with cheese.

The recipe book says this makes four servings of the pasta. I don't know. Maybe? In any case, nom nom.