Donal's Real Time Recipes airs Wednesday nights at 8.30pm on RTÉ One. Catch up on RTÉ Player.
Ingredients
Serves: 4
Time: 30 minutes
- 1 onion
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 20g butter
- Pinch of chilli flakes
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp dried mint
- 3 anchovy fillets
- 3 tbsp tomato purée
- 400g minced lamb
- 400g passata
- 100g pecorino, for serving
- A few fresh mint leaves
- A few fresh oregano leaves
- 400g store-bought gnocchi
- 1 lemon
- Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
Method
- Add the lamb into the pan and season again with salt and pepper. Using the back of a fork or a wooden spoon, break up the lamb as it cooks, stirring for a further 5 minutes until the lamb is golden.
- Finely dice the onion and garlic and add to the pan, season with salt and pepper and cook for about 7 - 8 minutes, until the onions have softened and the garlic is fragrant.
- Add the chilli flakes, oregano, butter, mint and anchovies and cook for a minute or two more.
- Add in the tomato purée and stir to coat everything then pour in the passata, scraping up anything stuck to the bottom of the pan. Add about 100ml (a big splash) of boiling water then bring to the boil and allow to bubble away over a medium heat for about 15 minutes.
- Whilst the ragu cooks, add the gnocchi to a saucepan of boiling salted water and cook according to the packet instructions.
- Place the pecorino into a mini blender and blitz until it resembles a fine breadcrumb. Set aside.
- Transfer the gnocchi into the now thickened ragu and stir through to coat. Sprinkle in the chopped fresh herbs and grate in the zest of ½ a lemon and toss everything together. Serve in warmed bowls with plenty of pecorino cheese.
