Over the past few weeks, I have been actively building my Instagram following. This includes sharing pictures of the food I eat on a daily basis. I have also begin to follow many chefs and food bloggers which provide daily inspiration for my meal planning. This week, someone posted an amazing looking brunch dish from Barbuto in NYC: Lamb Sugo over polenta topped with a poached egg. This of course looked delicious and my husband and I knew we could make it easily. The starting point is an amazing lamb sugo (sauce) that can be made ahead of time and used for multiple dishes during the week (recipe below). Polenta is easy enough, just make it according to the package directions and add in some parmigiano cheese. Last, poach an egg for each person who you are serving. Layer in this order: polenta, lamb sugo, egg on top, salt, pepper and a little extra cheese. The result is a hearty, soul warming dish that is full of flavor!
Lamb Sugo
Ingredients
- 2 35-ounce can San Marzano tomatoes, whole
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 medium yellow onions, diced (about 2 cups)
- 8 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped fine
- 4 Lamb Shanks or Lamb Shoulder (or a mix of both)
- salt
- 3/4 cup red wine
- 1/3 cup tomato paste
- 4 bay leaves
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano, preferably the type dried on the branch, crumbled
- 4 cups hot water
Directions
Pass the tomatoes and their liquid through a food mill fitted with the fine blade or crush with your hands in a separate glass bowl. Set aside.
Heat the olive oil in a heavy 5-quart pot over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 8 minutes. Make a little room in the center of the pot, dump in the garlic and cook, stirring, until the garlic is lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Add the lamb shanks and cook, turning, until lightly browned on all sides, about 5 minutes. Continue cooking until the meat is browned about 8 minutes. Add the bay leaves and oregano then pour in the wine. Bring to a boil and cook, scraping up the brown bits that cling to the pot, until the wine is almost completely evaporated. Pour in the tomatoes, then stir in the tomato paste until is dissolved. Season lightly with salt. Bring to a boil, adjust the heat to a lively simmer and cook, uncovered, stirring often, until the sauce takes on a dark red color, 3 to 4 hours. Add the hot water, about 1/2 cup at a time, as necessary so that the sauce does not get too thick.
Skim off any fat floating on top and adjust the seasoning as necessary. The sauce can be prepared entirely in advance and refrigerated for up to 5 days, or frozen for up to 3 months
It goes well in the polenta/egg dish I discusses above or beautifully with pasta!