Variety of Food, Day 27: Lamb Ragu

Tonight I went with a dish I hadn't done before from a tried and true book. It's generally a pretty safe way to branch out, and I'm not interested in failures this close to the end of the month. True to form, this didn't disappoint.

Lamb Ragu
Adapted from The Classic Pasta Cookbook by Giuliano Hazan
1/2 oz dried porcini mushrooms
2 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp butter
1/2 onion, chopped
1 carrot, diced
1 rib of celery, diced
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp juniper berries
1 lb ground lamb (or you can use a larger piece of meat and dice it up)
salt and pepper
1/3 cup dry white wine
14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes
1/4 cup grated parmesan
Soak the mushrooms for at least 20 minutes in 1 cup of warm water. Remove and squeeze all the extra liquid back into your soaking water and save that. Chop the mushrooms coarsely. In a medium saucepan, put the oil, 1 tbsp of the butter and the onion and cook over medium-low heat until the onion is nicely golden. Add the carrot, celery, rosemary and the juniper berries and continue to cook until the vegetables get browned (about 15 minutes). Turn the heat up to medium-high and add the meat. Cook and stir until there is no more pink in the meat, and then add salt, pepper, and the wine. Let the wine reduce by half before adding the mushrooms, their soaking water and the tomatoes. When it comes back to a boil, lower the heat to low and simmer for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally. It should be thick and not watery to signal that it's done. Cook a pound of rigatoni, and combine the cooked pasta with the sauce, the other 2 tbsp of the butter and the parmesan.

This was rich and tasty, and lamb is just not a meat we eat that often, so it was sort of a treat. More of a treat is that there are just 3 meals left in the month. Woohoo!!