Quick Lamb Ragu

A long-time favorite that's pared down of any extra or unnecessary ingredients. And please please please give lamb a chance!

Lamb ragu over parmesan polenta from my cookbook, Dinner is Done. Photo by Debora Smail. Styling by yours truly for my cookbook. Just a little proud.

What can I say about this lamb ragu? It came about on a whim one night when I had purchased lamb for meatballs and didn’t feel like putting them together. A sauté of a yummy sauce felt like a much easier and hands-off deal. Come to find out, I’m out of garlic (spoiler alert: the sauce didn’t suffer), and I only had the dregs of vegetable supplies left (half an onion, one measly carrot, you get the picture). But guess what? It magically turned out amazing, so I decided to share the wealth.

And yes, before you ask, you can make this with ground beef or ground turkey. But trust: Make it at least once with ground lamb. I’ll be checking the mail for my thank you note.

Lamb Ragu

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

• ½ onion, chopped (yellow, red, or white all work fine)

• 1 carrot, diced

• 1 celery stalk, diced

• 1 pound ground lamb

• ½-1 teaspoon kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

• 1 tablespoon tomato paste

• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, minced or dried, or 1/2 teaspoon dried

• ½ cup red wine (such as Pinot Noir, Merlot or Chianti)

• 1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes