Playing with a recipe: lamb in pomegranate sauce

We are in that period of the year when cooks switch from grills, to ovens. It's that time when a slow braise, a stew, something long cooked and with deep flavor appeals much more than a seared steak or grilled piece of fish.

Lamb , or at least some cuts of lamb, is a superb candidate for slow cooking. I'm told that lamb is the least favorite meat of Americans. I think I understand why, and it comes back to the quality of food that we are confronted with in markets. Of all of the readily available meats, lamb has the strongest taste. And if lamb is not raised properly, that strong taste is REALLY strong. GOOD lamb has a delicacy of flavor that will make you come back for more. I guarantee it. So go to a good quality vendor, get some good meat, and get to work.

This recipe is also a good example of how you can simplify a recipe and still get good results. Originally, the recipe called for sauteeing lamb bones and then putting them into the dish, probably to thicken it with the collagen and other goodies that come out of lamb. It also called for a full lamb shoulder. That's a 7.5 pound piece of meat. You can find it, but you can also use lamb shanks, and make some modifications. That's how I do it. Lamb shanks are one of those forgotten cuts of meat, that everyone loves when they see it in restaurants. No one cooks it at home, probably because it takes too long to do. Well, as Annalena frequently says, GET OVER IT.

You're going to need a good 1/3 of a cup of olive oil, and eight lamb shanks. Get smaller ones. Have a bag of flour ready. If you haven't presalted the shanks, put a good tablespoon of salt in with the flour. Then you'll also need a couple of yellow onions, that you'll chop up ahead of time. Also - and I'm not kidding, the cloves from two HEADS of garlic, peeled. Stop getting nervous. You really won't notice it, because when garlic is cooked, long and slow, it gets sweet. Also have ready a cup of red wine. DRY stuff. Not the 100 dollar bottle you got as a birthday present, and not a 6 buck bottle of swill, but something good. You also need two cups of chicken stock, and a cup of pomegranate juice. Don't bother with that expensive stuff that says "keep refrigerated." You can use the organic stuff in a glass bottle.

Incidentally, how DO they juice pomegranates. I tried once, and wound up looking like I had just taken a round from a gatlin gun.

Also have ready a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste, a couple of b rown sugar, and one of oregano. You also want a taspoon of cinnamon, and a teaspoon of allspice if you have it. If you don't, use ginger.

There is an option here at the end, using butter and flour to thicken the sauce. I'm not going to use it.

Okay, preheat your oven to 325 (seems I'm using that temperature a lot these days, doesn't it). Pour the olive oil into a broad pan. While it heats up, pat your shanks dry, and if you haven't done the usual "leave in the fridge with salt" technique I've been teaching you over and over again, salt them. Put them in the bag of flour and shake to coat them. When the oil is hot, brown the shanks all over. You may have to be a little clever here, because the shape of shanks is such that it's not always easy to get them down in the hot oil. Use your tongs, and do the best you can. It's going to take you about fifteen minutes to get them all done. Then move them over to a plate while you get the vegetables ready. Lower the heat, and add the onions and the garlic. The garlic cloves go in whole, but peeled. Cook them for about three minutes, and then add the lamb on top of the onions. Put in everything else and give it a good stir. Bring the liquid to a boil, and then cover the pot and move it to the oven.

Check the meat after 45 minutes and see how tender it is. Depending on how old the lamb was when it was butchered, this dish can take up to two hours. What you're looking for is a level of tenderness with the meat that makes you think "this is close to falling off of the bone." You don't want it so tender that it does go off the bone, but close. VERY close.

Ideally, you will have done this the day before you want to serve it, because you want the juices to cool so that the fat comes to the top, and you can remove it. If you don't have that kind of time, try to let it cool anyway, because you will be able to skim some of it off.

What I do next is to put the lamb shanks to the side, and then strain the liquid, so that any solids are removed. Then I bring the liquid to a boil, and cook it down, until I have about two cups. At the end, if it's not "zippy" enough, I will add an extra quarter cup of pomegranate juice. What you can ALSO do is boil the juices down, and in a separate pot, mix 1.5 tablespoons of butter and 1.5 tablespoons of flour together, until the flour just browns. Then pour the juices into that pot and stir until the stuff comes to the boil. This will give you a thicker, more "luscious" sauce, if you want it. You don't HAVE to do it, but it does coat the meat much better that way, and especially if you add more pomegranate juice, you will want that.

This goes great with mashed potatoes, or couscous, or that wonderful Sardinian pasta called fregola. Leftovers are terrific too. By the time you reheat it, the meat WILL fall off of the bone, and then you can use it as a sauce for pasta or something else.

Yes, it's time consuming, but let's face it: it's getting cold out. You don't really want to go out, do you? Call some people over, make a salad, get some ice cream, and you've got a party going on.

Get used to it gang. You're gonna see a LOT of braises in the future.