Slow Cooked Rosemary Lamb Ragu

Recipe video above. Lamb Ragù is a wonderful way to use lamb shoulder for a generous, comforting meal that feels far more luxurious than the cost suggests. The lamb is slow cooked in a rich red wine tomato sauce until it's fall apart tender, gently shredded then tossed back in the sauce. The rosemary flavour in this is beautiful - please try to use fresh rather than dried!

For pasta shapes, pappardelle is the classic, but anything with good meat-catching abilities works so have fun! Try capunti paesani (pictured - little canoe shapes), mafaldine, paccheri, fusilloni or rigatoni. Just avoid tiny pasta like risoni or fine strands like angel hair.

Note: I've written the directions around 1 packet of pasta but you'll have ragu leftover to make another 1 - 2 servings, depending on how generous you are with the sauce.

Prep Time25

Cook Time3 30

Course: Mains

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: lamb meat sauce, lamb pasta, lamb ragu, lamb ragu pappardelle, slow cooked lamb, slow cooked lamb shoulder

Servings: - 8

Calories: 678cal

Author: Nagi

Ingredients

Lamb browning:

1.25 kg / 2.5 lb boneless lamb shoulder , excess fat trimmed and cut into 3 equal pieces (Note 1)
1 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt (half for table salt, +50% for flakes)
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp olive oil

Ragu:

1 onion , finely chopped
2 celery sticks , grated using a box grater (discard stringy bits)
1 large carrot , peeled, grated with box grater
3 large garlic cloves , finely minced
1 tbsp rosemary , finely chopped (substitute 2 tsp dried)
5 x 10cm/4" sprigs rosemary (sub 1 1/2 tsp dried)
2 bay leaves , preferably fresh else dried
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 1/2 cups red wine , full bodied (like merlot, cabernet sauvignon), or any red not too sweet or woody (substitute 0% wine or more chicken stock for non alcoholic)
400g/ 14 oz canned crushed tomato
1 1/2 cups chicken stock/broth , low sodium
2 beef stock cubes , crumbled (I use OXO, crumbles perfectly)
1/2 tsp black pepper
3/4 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt (half for table salt, +50% for flakes)

FOR PASTA (Note 2):

500g / 1 lb pappardelle, mafaldine, rigatoni, capunti paesani or other shapes with shredded meat catching abilities! (Note 2)
1 tbsp cooking salt / kosher salt , for pasta cooking water
Parmesan for serving

Instructions

ABBREVIATED RECIPE:

Brown lamb, cook soffrito slowly, cook off tomato paste, deglaze and reduce wine. Slow cook lamb in sauce 2 hrs, remove, shred, simmer 30 min to reduce. Toss with cooked pasta!

FULL RECIPE:

Brown lamb - Sprinkle lamb with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large heavy based pot over high heat. Brown 2 pieces of the lamb until deep golden on both sides, about 2 - 3 minutes per side. Remove into a bowl and repeat with the 3rd piece, adding more oil if needed, then remove.
Soffrito - Lower heat to medium, cool the pot a bit if it's very hot and scrape out any loose black bits (pepper, lamb bits). Add a bit of oil if needed. Then add the onion, celery, carrot, garlic and rosemary. Cook slowly for 7 - 8 minutes until softened but don't let them colour. Don't rush this step, it's key for good ragu flavour.
Deglaze and reduce wine - Turn heat up to high and add the tomato paste. Stir for 1 1/2 minutes to cook out the sourness and deepen the colour from red to brown. Then add the wine and simmer rapidly, scraping the base of the pot, until reduced by half.
Slow cook - Add tomato, stock, 3 rosemary sprigs, bay leaves, crumbled stock cubes, salt and pepper. Mix, add lamb (and any juices in the bowl) and let it come to a simmer. Then put the lid on and reduce the heat to low or medium low so it's simmering very gently. Slow cook for 2 hours or until the lamb is tender enough to shred. (Note 3 for other cook methods)
Shred - Remove lamb and shred using two forks. Cut excessively long strands using scissors. (Keep the pot on stove on medium heat without the lid while you do this).
Reduce sauce - Remove and discard rosemary and bay leaves. Return lamb into sauce and add the remaining 2 rosemary sprigs. Toss, then simmer on medium low for 30 min with the lid off, stirring every now and then, until the sauce has reduced and is thickened. Taste, and add more salt if needed. Cover and keep warm while you cook the pasta.

Tossing with pasta:

Cook pasta - Bring a large pot of water to the boil with the salt. Add the pasta and cook per the packet directions minus 1 minute (so it's a little underdone, it will finish cooking in the ragu).
Reserve water - Just before draining, scoop out a mugful of the cloudy pasta water. Drain pasta.
Toss - Return pasta into the pasta cooking pot with 6 - 7 cups (1.2 - 1.4kg) of the warm ragu (start with 6, add another cup if you want). Set the pot over medium high heat. If your ragu was very thick rather than saucy (it thickens the longer it is sitting around), add 1/4 to 1/3 cup pasta cooking water. Then toss with spatulas until the meat is tangled through the pasta and all the pasta is stained red, there should be no sauce pooled in the bottom of the pot. If at anytime the pasta gets too stiff and sticky, just add more pasta cooking water.
Serve - Divide between warmed pasta bowls or pour into a large serving bowl and let everyone help themselves with parmesan on the side! Add a side of Garlic Bread and a fresh Balsamic Rocket Salad on the side and finish with a beautiful Tiramisu. :)

Notes

1. Lamb cut - Shoulder is best because it's a slow cooking cut of meat that's beautifully juicy and made for shredding. Lamb leg will work too, but it’s leaner so the meat won’t be quite as succulent. Use boneless and cook per the recipe, it may need a little longer until it's shreddable. Boneless lamb shanks will work too, brilliant cut for slow cooking, but the meat won't shred as well, you get smaller "crumbly" pieces - nevertheless delicious as it's a really juicy cut. I'd use orecchiette for shank meat.

2. Pasta types - I chose these for meat catching abilities and suitability to this rich meat sauce. Pappardelle is the popular choice (the wide flat pasta) though mafaldine is also excellent (fettuccine with curly ridges, photo here of what it looks like). For short pastas, I suggest capunti paesani (pictured in post, boat-shaped rustic Italian pasta, I get it from Harris Farms) or rigatoni (big tubes so meat goes inside).

3. Slow Cooker & Pressure Cooker/Instant Pot - follow recipe to the end of Step 3 on the stove (or sauté function on your appliance). After the wine is reduced by half, add the chicken stock and reduce the total liquid by half again. Transfer it all to the slow cooker or pressure cooker/IP, add remaining sauce ingredients and lamb. Slow cook on low for 8 hours. Or pressure cook on high for 40 minutes.

Take lamb out, shred etc per recipe. If you have too much liquid, just reduce for longer.

Oven - 2 1/2 hours at 180°C/350°F (160°C fan-forced) for the slow cooking part, then after shredding do the 30 minute simmer on the stove.

4. Recipe quantity and servings - Recipe makes ~1.7kg of ragu (~3.4lb) which is enough for 600 - 700g pasta (1.2 - 1.4 lb pasta) that will serve 7 - 8 people with regular appetites (~80g / 2.8 oz pasta pp), for 6 - 7 hearty appetites (100g / 3.5 oz pasta per person).

1 cup of ragu = 200g. I've written the recipe for 1 x 500g/1lb packet of pasta, which will serve 5 - 6 people.

Leftovers - Ragu keeps for 4 days in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer. Once tossed with pasta, best served fresh as pasta will absorb sauce, save extra pasta cooking water if you can to toss to loosen.

Nutrition per serving assuming 8 servings with 80g/2.8 oz uncooked pasta per person.

Nutrition