Yet more shanks: this time with lemon, olives, tomatoes

What can I say? When you find a theme that works, stick with it? Actually, that ain't what happened here. See, I had made the lamb shanks with prunes for our dinner, not that long ago. And I was looking at our annual gluttony fest on New Year's Day, and wanted to make lamb shanks. But not the same thing. Annalena gets bored very easily. So I looked through the trove or, if you see fit, garbage pit, of recipes that I have accumulated, and found this one.

I THINK it was good. I made 10 lamb shanks and put them out. I didn't get a taste. Neither did Guy.

This one is a bit involved, but it's an interesting dish. The use of molasses is intriguing, sort of like "honey glazed chicken," but not, and the olives and lemons in the end, almost as garnish, is terrific. Almost a variation on gremolata.

Ok, enough twaddle talk. This is involved. Let's go.

You're going to need a whole mess of ingredients here, so I'll spell those out for you first. Of course, the lamb shanks: 8-10 of them. Also molasses, say a heaping half cup of it. (Apparently there is something called light molasses. I've never seen it. I used the regular stuff). You also need a cup of flour, and two tablespoons of good quality paprika. Half a cup of olive oil. Two pounds of onions, that you peel and cube, very roughly. A large can of tomatoes. Pour them out, crush them with your hands, and leave them alone.

Mix together a cup and a half each, of chicken stock, and white wine (this is the ONE time I think that chicken stock and white wine worked for me , with wine. Use a flavorful one. I used gewurztraminer). Peel and crush six cloves of garlic, and grate the peel off of a lemon. Break up two bay leaves. Then, pit and break up almost a cup of green olives. Hold that lemon to the side.

Let's cook. Move the oven to 350. Get a big broad pan out, and first, paint each lamb shank, all over, with molasses. Use a brush. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper over each of them. It will stick to the molasses. Stir together the flour and the paprika, and then sprinkle it over the lamb, or you can use the "shake and bake in a bag" technique. In any event, get the shanks covered with a light dusting of flour.

Put all but about 2 tablespoons of the oil in a big pan, and get it really hot. Then, put in the shanks, but don't pile them up. One layer , please. Brown them well, on all sides. This will take some time : probably about 15 minutes to do them all, be it 8 or 10. When they're done, put them aside. Get a big pot ready, and put in the rest of the o live oil. Add the onions, and saute, for about 10-15 minutes (if you're organized, you can do this while you're doing the shanks. I'm not, so I don't). Then add the tomatoes with their juice, the wine, the broth, the garlic, the lemon peel, the bay leaves, and about a heaping teaspoon of paprika. Bring this to the boil, and then put parchment over the top (just crumbled up), and then cover the pot, and put everything in the oven, for about 2 hours.

You're supposed to stir things and move the shanks around, every 45 minutes. Give me a break. I'm not reinstalling parchment paper every time. I did this with no stirring and after two hours, it was fine. The meat was shiny and glossy and the sauce was delcious.

BUT.. it got better. I took the shanks out of the sauce and then over a medium heat, reduced it for about 20 minutes. It took that long, there's a lot of it.

Put the shanks back in the liquid, and let it rest. Overnight if you can.

The next day, I suggest slicing the meat off of the shanks and letting it sit in the sauce some more. Add the olives, and segment the lemon, just like you were making orange or grapefruit segments. Heat everything together, and put it forth.

DOesn't that sound good? It does. I think I'll have to make it again, so I can taste it.