We had a leftover batch of the old standby Velvet Lemon Pasta Sauce that we were both avoiding using due to last month’s lemon overdose (you haven’t seen the last of those lemons yet, I promise). I was almost thinking it would go bad before we would be in the mood for lemon sauce again, but then Jen was hit with a bolt of inspiration. She revived the sauce with some fresh red onion sauteed with some ground lamb from our freezer, a splash of water and a bit of dried basil. All this on some whole wheat penne.

If she had told me she had added lamb (or red meat of any kind really) to the lemon sauce before I ate it, I’m not sure I would have been able to anticipate the combination of those two flavors. Somehow, surprising to me at least, the lamb lent a light but duskier meaty flavor to the creamy tartness of the sauce. I’m not keeping score but I think this sauce deserves several more points in the versatility category. I’ll never let it languish in my fridge again.