Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Wednesday

Abruzzese lamb pasta (recipe in the comments)
Steamed broccoli with lemon

Hot tea
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This is the recipe I prepped last night that prompted my post on my love of slow cookers. This is a pasta sauce recipe I got from a friend and was my first try at independent conversion of a conventional recipe to a slow cooker version. Such amazing early success has fueled my later attempts, most of which have been great. This recipe is much better as a crockpot dish, as the slow cooking allows the acid in the tomatoes to mellow and the rosemary and wine to really infuse the sauce. If you're not a lamb eater or ground lamb is hard for you to come by, any ground red meat would probably work. While I often substitute ground turkey or chicken for ground beef, I don't think they would be as good in this sauce, but if anyone gives that a try let me know how it goes!

Prep Notes
Difficulty: Easy
Chopping: Garlic
Time: 20 minutes to prep, 8 hours to cook
Make ahead: Of course.

Reaction
J: "Lamb-i-licious."
M: "Not Baaaaaaaa-d."

1 comment:

J said...

Abruzzese Lamb Pasta – Jessica, inspired Carlo Midione (The Food of Southern Italy)
Serves 4

1 T extra-virgin olive oil
4 large cloves of garlic, peeled and thickly sliced
1 lb. ground lamb
2 large bay leaves
3 4-inch branches of fresh rosemary
2 28-oz cans diced tomatoes
1 cup dry white wine
1.5 t salt
.75 t pepper
2 T white sugar
.5 t red pepper flakes (OPTIONAL)

1 lb. farfalle or other small chunky pasta

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and lightly brown the garlic. Add the ground lamb. Cook, crumbling meat, until meat is mostly browned. Add contents of skillet and all remaining ingredients, except pasta, to crock pot (our six quart works well). Cook on low for eight hours. Taste for sugar, salt, and pepper.

Meanwhile, cook pasta. Serve sauce over pasta with cracked pepper and grated Parmesan cheese.