It’s been a while since Keith and I have cooked lamb shanks, but I’m not sure why. They are so easy to make and they are a perfect, hearty winter meal. Even the five-year-old enjoys succulent meat, falling off the bone. So instead of making chili for the Super Bowl meal like everyone else in the country (who probably cares more than I do because I’m a sour-pussed New England fan who doesn’t have much stake in the Superbowl this year) we turned to our lamb shanks for sustenance.
I wanted to try something new, so I presented some recipe choices to Keith. How good does braised lamb shanks with caramelized onions and shallots sound? Yeah, I thought so too, but it didn’t make my husband dance. He was also not even a little bit excited about spiced lamb shanks with blood orange relish, which I find weird because — hello — there’s fennel!
Jamie Oliver’s spiced lamb shanks was the hands-down winner. It’s a recipe we’ve done before, it feels like hundreds of times, but obviously, it’s Keith’s favorite. And to be honest, it really doesn’t get much better than this. Fresh veggies, herbs, a unique blend of spices and slow cooking for hours in the oven … yeah, it was delicious, like always.
I’m not sure we’ve ever made this recipe exactly the same way twice, and that’s partly due to the way Jamie Oliver writes up his recipes. A handful of this or that, try this spice or that one, and toss in this to taste. It makes for a fun time in the kitchen and an excitement to taste the minor changes you’ve made in this batch. I used whole coriander seeds and my mortar and pestle, marjoram and fresh basil this time around.
We served our lamb shanks with Alton Brown‘s savory polenta, a recipe I’ve never done before but has become my new favorite polenta recipe. It’s basic, but with onion, garlic and chicken stock, lots of salt and pepper and butter and cheese. It gives polenta that little oomph that I’ve always wanted from basic polenta.
So even though I didn’t get to try a new recipe (I’m not asking next time!) I got to enjoy an old favorite with a new polenta recipe, through the eyes of the five-year-old. Who, incidentally, said the meal was so delicious that he loved it “to the cartoons and back.” I have no idea what that means, but I think it’s good because he had seconds.
Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Feb 09, 2010 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
