Leftover Lamb Lusciousness

So I apologize in advance because I forgot to take final pictures of this dish! My in-laws arrived safe at last from the airport and we all just sat down so fast that I never even thought of my camera once I'd dropped the pasta.
You'll just have to imagine the luscious end result.

So with all that leftover sauce/stew from the braised lamb shanks, I decided I could turn it into another lovely meal if I just gave it a bit of a face-lift. It's kind of  a cross between stretching leftover stew and a pasta sauce.

I started by peeling and slicing 4 carrots, and setting them in a medium sauce pan with 2 TBS olive oil, 1 tsp of agave nectar, a pinch of salt, and 1/4 cup of water.

Place the lid on and cook for about 5-7 minutes, until the liquids are bubbling & the carrots are softened. Normally at this point I would say, "Cook an additional few minutes until all the water in the pot has boiled off and the carrots are left with a sweet glaze on them."

But this time around I added 2 whole tomatoes, seeded and chopped into chunks, as well as 1 chopped clove of garlic, and once that had become aromatic, a few splashes of beef stock.

I wasn't kidding when I said there wasn't much meat left...

But what there was I finely minced and threw into the pot with the bubbling carrots, tomato and stock.

To that I added enough of the leftover lamb sauce/liquids to serve 4 people, and had salted water at the boil and ready to drop some gnocchi as soon as the fam arrived.

Once the gnocchi float to the top, they're done, so I portioned them out, topped with with the revamped stew mixture, and finished it with a tablespoon of mascarpone cheese to melt into everything and make it brilliant and decadent.

And it was.

Slow-Braised Lamb Shanks

According to the news, this is the coldest streak of weather NYC has seen since last February. In fact, NY1's Pat Kiernan officially gave permission to bitch about how cold it has been all week.

Thanks, Pat...

Frankly, weather like this just makes me want to stay in my apartment and cook warm things for hours.

And then, of course, eat them.

Hopefully by now everyone has recovered from Round 1 of Holiday Indulgence and is once more ready for a hearty dish.

I know I am.

I didn't follow a recipe for this meal. Instead I kind of winged it off of what I did with the red wine-braised short ribs, figuring what's good for beef is good for lamb. At least when it comes to braising.

And you know what?

It worked.

It was really good.

Tho I cannot stress enough the importance of making this a day in advance so it has time to meld and become truly fabulous.

For this recipe I used:
2 lamb shanks
3 carrots, peeled and cut into rounds
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
5 garlic cloves, minced
3 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
2 tsp dried thyme
1 bay leaf
5 black peppercorns
1 15 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup beef stock
1 1/2 cups red wine
1 1/2 tsp lemon zest

In a large heavy bottomed pot, heat 2 TBSP oil and brown your shanks, one at a time.

Remove and allow to rest.

If there are any burnt bits, remove them from the bottom of the pot with a wet towel.

Caramelization is flavor, and you want to keep that.

With just enough oil/fat to about cover the bottom of the pot, add onion and carrots and sauté until tender, about 10 minutes.

Then add the garlic, rosemary, and thyme, and cook until fragrant, another 2-3 minutes.

I place the peppercorns and bay leaf in cheese cloth or a loose-tea bag for easy removal later.

Add spice bag, lemon zest, crushed tomato, stock, and wine, and submerge the shanks in the liquid.

Bring everything up to a simmer, and then reduce heat to low and cook gently, lid on, for 2 hrs.

Uncover and cook another 30 minutes until the meat is very tender.

Remove shanks and crank the heat on the liquids until they have reduced to your desired thickness. Mine took another 30 minutes or so because I used so much stock and wine.

But then I love having loads of leftover sauce that I may or may not eat in small bowls like the richest consommé... or wateriest stew.

Whatever. It's delicious.

And warm.

Meanwhile, note the bone on the left has offered up its marrow to the sauce, while the one on the right still has marrow inside it.

Delicious on toast.

Return the meat to the reduced sauce, allow to cool, and refrigerate, covered, overnight.

The next day there will be a lot of solidified fat to remove from the surface.

Slowly bring the pot back to a simmer, and serve each shank with a few ladles of sauce and vegetables. 

I chose to serve this with quinoa and some fresher, sweeter carrots to offset the heaviness of the braised ones. This would go well with almost any starch: potato or vegetable mash, polenta, or couscous.

While there wasn't a whole lot of meat left over, there was a LOT of sauce, which I of course snacked on over the course of the next few days.

The rest of the leftovers got  a fancy kick as a pasta sauce, but I'll save that for another post.

This is by no means a perfected recipe, in my hyper-perfectionist opinion. I felt it was missing something to make it truly "wow" worthy. But it is certainly a solid method to follow with highly satisfying results.

Now pardon me while I go camp out by the radiator...

On the Lamb... Chop

I really enjoy lamb, but even tho all of England and Ireland (and the Falklands) are crawling with sheep, it still seems to be rather expensive state-side. Luckily this week lamb chops were affordable, so we got to treat ourselves.
Here's a simple rundown of our Lavender-Rosemary Lamb Chop Dinner.

Don't they just look like little Valentines of Deliciousness?

Well, they are.

I believe I got 1 1/2 inch thick chops, so bear that in mind if you buy thinner ones, they might not need as much cooking time.
Pat your chops dry and season them with salt & pepper to taste. (Tho not too much salt. See below.)

Preheat the oven to 400º
Then I heat some oil (evoo) in a skillet and crush some dried rosemary into it, as well as two cracked cloves of garlic so they infuse the oil. Once the oil is rippling, I remove the garlic cloves and put the chops in, seasoned-side down, and let them brown for about 4 minutes.

Season the other side of the chops before you flip them, and then let the other side brown for another  4 minutes. When they are done, pop your pan in your preheated oven for another 5 minutes. This should result in medium-rare chops.

I didn't season my lamb chops with too much salt before cooking because I finish them with this Lavender Rosemary Salt that my sister-in-law gave me for Christmas. It's a really nice way to finish the dish and make things a little different. (No I am not paid to endorse their salts. I just like a lot of them. I've tried their Bloody Mary Salt as well and it's fantastic on eggs.)

Rounding out our low-carb dinner was a healthy pile of just-nuked peas. I really am glad sometimes that while Mike is very hard to cook for in some ways, he's very easy to please in others. Tiny tender baby peas and some über juicy lamb chops were a perfect meal.

Dinner done.