"jmcquown" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:Melba's Jammin said:In article <[email hidden]>, Boron Elgar
Quoted message said:Early in the spring I had written to a local farm that raises lambs
to reserve one for the fall, as they are ready for market near the
end of October. I never heard back and forgot about it altogether.
Yesterday I got an email asking me to confirm my reservation and tell
them how I want the lamb cut. OH BOY!
This will be a lovely fall with legs, rack, shoulder chops, shanks
and stew meat. I am quite jazzed! The freezer needed cleaning out
anyway.
Yum!
Boron
She scores!! Good on you. I've never cooked lamb in my life. I
had a shank a couple weeks ago at a fabulous restaurant in St. Cloud
(story on my website - Cafe Renaissance). I'm scared to cook it.
Lamb is wonderful! Can't believe you're afraid of it 🙂 I first tasted
lamb (kabobs) when I went on a date in 1976 at some French place in
midtown,
Quoted message said:Memphis. The server gently suggested I might like it prepared
medium-rare.
Quoted message said:How right he was!
Since then I have prepared lamb loin chops (the shoulder chops are too
costly for what little bit you get); and lamb shanks, but never a whole
leg
Quoted message said:of lamb. No need for that much meat here nor the freezer space.
The shanks are great, like big turkey drumsticks, except, well... it's
lamb.
<Snip tasty sounding recipe!>
I must agree about the shanks - one of my favourite cuts, especially when
cooked really long and slow in wine etc. (red wine my favourite) so that
even the slightest knock while serving it up has all the meat fall off the
bone! First time I had it like that they called it 'Lamb Pullman', likely
their own naming.
This recipe sounds good to me too, although unless these are very small
shanks, the 1 1/4 hours doesn't seem quite long enough to me:
Slow-cooked lamb with gratin of white beans
4 large cloves of garlic, peeled
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 tablespoon chopped thyme
Olive oil
6 lamb shanks, french trimmed
250ml dry white wine
1½ cups chicken stock
Gratin of white beans
300g (1½ cups) dried white beans, soaked in cold water overnight, then
drained
2 dried bay leaves
Olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
4 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
250ml (1 cup) beef stock
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
140g (2 cups) day-old breadcrumbs
30g butter, melted
Method
Combine garlic, cumin and fennel seeds, thyme and a good pinch of salt
in a mortar and pound with a pestle until a paste forms, then stir in 1
tablespoon olive oil. Using a small sharp knife, make small incisions in
lamb and push half the paste mixture into the incisions, then rub the
remaining mixture over lamb. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours, then bring
to room temperature 30 minutes before cooking.
Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a heavy-based casserole and brown
lamb, in batches, over medium heat. Remove lamb from pan and add wine and
stock to pan and bring to the boil, stirring to remove any pieces stuck to
bottom of pan. Return lamb to pan, cover and cook at 160C for 1¼ hours or
until lamb is very tender. Remove lamb from pan, skim fat from surface of
cooking liquid, reduce cooking liquid, if necessary, to a good sauce
consistency, then season to taste. Return lamb to pan and gently heat
through.
Meanwhile for gratin of white beans, add drained beans and bay leaves
to a saucepan of simmering water and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes or
until beans are just cooked. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a frying pan
and cook onion over low heat until soft, add garlic, tomatoes and stock and
cook over high heat until stock is reduced by half. Season to taste and stir
in parsley and beans. Place bean mixture into a 6-cup capacity ceramic
ovenproof dish. Toss breadcrumbs with melted butter and spoon over beans.
Stand for 30 minutes, to allow flavours to develop, then bake at 160C for 30
minutes or until crust is browned. Serve lamb with gratin of white beans
with pan juices drizzled over.
__________
This talk of lamb is having me want to make a lamb shank and red wine dish
this w/e now... hmmm...!
',;~}~
Shaun aRe
