Leave It To The Kid To Simplify

Many of you know I am blessed with a child with a very wide palate when it comes to food, and he enjoys many things kids his age would never touch. But he is also a 8 year old boy, which means peanut butter & jelly, mac and cheese and hot dogs are also at the top of his list. He is the kid that will have a cheese and crackers for lunch but then request sushi for supper. He truly eats everything and anything; and it's because of this I believe he has started to ask more questions about the food that is in front of him. He watches what I do, and he is inquisitive beyond the typical "Mommy, what's for supper?" Now he wants to know what is in the dish, how did I cook it, what it's called etc. And it was during one of these conversations the title of this post came to me. 

Adam and I had watched an episode of Rachael Ray's daytime talk show during "Slow Cooker Week." As I've told you before, Mr. Everyday is not her biggest fan, and most of the food she makes, he turns up his nose at letting me know to not even try it. (And he's not a picky eater either, it's just the combinations she sometimes creates) But on this day she actually had a special guest showing one of her favorite slow cooker meals, Nigella Lawson, who he actually is a big fan of. (Personally I think he has a little crush on her, but that's our little secret.) I will admit, some of her recipes are a little complicated (or at least they seem to be) for my tastes, so I don't make a lot of Nigella's food, but when we saw this, I knew it would be easy as can be, and it looked incredibly delicious. Boy, am I glad we tuned in that morning!! 

If you haven't cooked with a lot of ground lamb, it's very lean and tender. In this dish, it gives it almost a silky quality and fantastic flavor. Plus the addition of red currant jelly offers a slight sweet note in the background. It really is the thing that makes them say "Hmmm...what is that?" 

So I was plating up supper, and little man walks out asking "What is this, Mommy?" I responded proudly with the name of the dish, thinking it sounded not only yummy but fancy! He looks down at his bowl and says "Oh, so it's goulash?" Well...yeah, I guess it does look like that. Leave it to the kid to take something and simplify it to the point that anybody could relate! 

If you are serving this to guests, use it's given name... it's certain to impress. However, if you are making this for your family, including little ones, take a tip from Alex and call it good ole' goulash! Whatever name you use, it's sure to please a hungry crowd!

Crock Pot Lamb Ragu Adapted from Nigella Lawson

1.5 lbs. ground lamb

1 large white onions, chopped

2 tsp. minced garlic

2 TBS olive oil

3 (15 oz.) cans diced tomatoes

2 TBS Worcestershire sauce

2 TBS red currant jelly

2 c. water

2 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. red pepper flakes

16 oz. elbow macaroni

Salt and Pepper to taste

Dried Parsley, for garnish

In a large skillet, heat olive oil to medium. Add onions and garlic. Saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Add lamb and break up. Continue cooking until meat is no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Season with oregano, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Add Worcestershire and jelly. Stir to combine. Add to Crock Pot. Pour diced tomatoes and water into mixture and stir well. Cook on LOW for 6 hours. 30 minutes before end, add macaroni and stir well. Cook for remaining 30 minutes until pasta is done. When ready to serve, garnish with dried parsley.

Shared on The Country Cook Mar.1, 2013
Shared on Make Ahead Meals Mar. 4, 2013
Shared on Miz Helen's Country Cottage Apr. 11, 2013