Lamb and oregano ragu with baked brown rice

Ingredients

Ragu

2 tbsp olive oil
600g lamb shoulder, diced
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 tsp dried oregano
140g tomato paste
1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
50g quince paste, diced
400ml boiling water
salt and pepper, to taste
fresh oregano leaves, to serve

Baked brown rice to serve

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2 bay leaves
1 tsp allspice
1.5L boiling water
2 cups brown basmati rice
50g butter, diced
1/4 cup crushed walnuts, toasted
100g feta cheese, roughly chopped

Method

Ragu

Preheat the oven to 160°C or 140°C fan forced.

Heat the oil in a heavy-based saucepan over medium-high and brown the lamb in batches until golden brown on each side, set aside and season to taste.

Reduce heat to medium-low and add a little more olive oil, then cook the onions and carrots for about five minutes, or until soft.

Add the garlic and oregano, cook for another minute or so and then add the tomato paste, chopped tomatoes, quince paste and boiling water. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Stir well and bring to a gentle boil. Place in the oven for 2 hours or until nice and tender. Just before serving, scatter with fresh oregano leaves.

Baked brown rice:

Preheat the oven to 200°C or 180° fan forced.

Heat the oil in a heavy-based saucepan over medium-high and cook the onion and garlic for a few minutes or until soft and translucent.

Add the bay leaves, allspice, water and rice and place (uncovered) in the oven for 40 minutes. Check to see if the rice is cooked through – if not, return to the oven with a little extra water if necessary – and then stir through the butter.

Spoon the rice into a nice serving bowl and top with the walnuts and feta cheese.

Notes:

Browning the lamb is important to create the rich flavours for this ragu.
If you use an oven-proof pan to cook this in on the stove top, you will only need one pot for the lamb ragu.
The ragu is best if cooked one day, left to cool slowly and then gently reheated the next day to serve with rice.
Baked brown rice is a good alternative to mashed potato, pasta and couscous for these kinds of wet dishes and is almost foolproof!
This recipe was created by Sophie Hansen for Kidspot, New Zealand’s best recipe finder.