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| Oh my God, we're down to two???? |
There comes a time in a prolific cook's life when the freezer and fridge just can't take any more leftovers. And when the storage issue interferes with a gal's single-handed plan to game the grocery store butcher department lamb shank inventory and never be without shanks again, it's a Def Con 4 situation.
It is at those times that you're in for a long run of mystery plastic containers. Unless you're very good at labeling containers, which I am not.
It is at those times that you're in for a long run of mystery plastic containers. Unless you're very good at labeling containers, which I am not.
This can be a fun game. Peek inside and guess what's for dinner! Peek inside and try to remember how long ago you made this! Let's play!
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| Mystery freezer fish is exempted from play. Black seabass? |
Marinara with Italian sausage? I don't remember making that one. Sometimes I use jarred sauce if I can find Bertolli with Black and Green Olives. Target's Giada line with the olive version is also not bad. If I go with jarred sauce, I usually add things. There is something else in there with the sausage. Looks like meatballs. Did I use some of those turkey meatballs they have next to the chicken strips in the meat department? See? Isn't this fun?
Ok, about the mystery freezer fish. I recall a run on Point Loma Seafood last summer. I got a whole lot of fish, fresh and smoked, and used up most of it within a day or two and froze some. And labeled it apparently! But now I'm just scared of it. Too long in there. Why not toss and use space for shanks?
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| The field of play. |
I recognise something that must have been a stir fry with brown rice. Two more quinoas: one with asparagus and kale; one with sweet potatoes. Something about one of them reminds me of a shrimp dish I made a long time ago with a tomatillo sauce. Maybe because the tomatillo shrimp thing was once buried as deep in the depths of the freezer as these poor quinoa experiments are? Need to dig that recipe up! Speaking of tomatillos, what about that Spaghetti and Meatballs with Tomatillo Sauce and Queso Fresco recipe you tried? That was good too!
Wait, slow down Speed Racer, not yet. You have an inventory problem to tackle first.
Going through photos to post, I came across Chiles en Nogada, a heavenly Mexican dish that invokes the colors of the Mexican flag (September, make it for Independence day) and the Bo Ssam Miracle dish from Sam Sifton in the NY Times. I promise to cover both of those in the future.
But we started by talking about shanks. And why is lamb shank storage so important? Let the Food God explain.....the tomato sauce dish was excellent but the curry? Nirvana! Mangia!
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| Meat on bone sinfulness. Lamby Divinity! |
The gleaming, massive lamb shank on these pages, impressive though it may be, is not the most effective way to serve what amounts to the shin and ankle of a lamb.
It’s glorious, for sure, but it has a number of disadvantages, the first of which is that a small-to-moderate lamb shank weighs in at more than a pound, a nice serving size in the ’70s (or the Middle Ages) but a bit macho for most of us these days. The second is that it’s difficult to cook — size alone makes it awkward, and penetration of flavors is an issue. It’s difficult to eat. And finally, that same graphic quality that makes for such a gorgeous photo reminds some people more of its source than they’d like.
Besides, I’ve slowly begun to realize that my most successful lamb dishes were made from what was left over from a meal of lamb shanks. A couple of months ago, when braising season began, I cooked two sizable lamb shanks and, of course, enjoyed them. But I really got into it over the following couple of nights when I wound up using them to create a marvelous ragù and then transformed the ragù into a lamb-tomato-bean stew that could not have been much better.
Why not, I thought, do all of this intentionally, with planning? It makes sense, after all: get that initial, long, slow braising done leisurely and in advance and then have two wonderful ingredients with which to build other dishes. Two? Well, yes: the meat itself and its barely seasoned juice — dark, natural, laden with fat.
It took me something like 30 years of cooking lamb shanks to arrive at that idea, and it took two hours to execute. I seared the daylights out of two shanks — not only are they big, but they really have three sides worth searing, so this takes a while. But since I was doing only two, I didn’t need a massive pan, and although it can hinder the searing, I kept the pan partly covered to reduce spatter. (If you have an oven that gets really hot — say, 550 degrees — and you have a pizza stone in there to put the pan on, you can preheat it for a half-hour or so and do the browning in the oven, thus brilliantly containing the mess.)
The browning done, I turned the heat down, poured off most of the fat and added a splash of liquid: white wine, I thought, was best, though red wine or good stock would do as well, and water would be fine. Ultimately the juice will taste mostly of lamb.
From then on, the process was simple: braise over low heat, turning occasionally and tossing in a bit more liquid (after the initial wine, I used water), until the meat literally falls off the bone. The timing of this will depend not only on the level of your heat and the size of your shanks but also on their intrinsic tendency to soften (and, indeed, one may be done 20 minutes before the other). But in every case this took under two hours.
I let the meat sit in the juice for a while, then just shredded it into a bowl, after which I stored it and the juice separately. An ambitious cook like my friend Ed Schneider would look at these products and immediately think ravioli, then set about making fresh pasta and putting a little production process in motion.
I wish, sometimes, that were me. But at that point, all I can think is: I have the most amazing stuff in the fridge. How can I most quickly and easily use it to make dinner? The three recipes that follow the initial preparation were some of the answers I came up with. (A couple of others were, frankly, less successful.) I think the inside-out ravioli (that is, a normal dish of pasta with ragù) is among the most useful preparations you can make with braised meat, and it was the one I turned to first. You might try it with three or four chopped carrots added at the beginning for extra sweetness.
The other two are a little more unusual, but they’re just as logical, because they’re simply quick versions of dishes that are typically cooked long and slow.
The precooking technique doesn’t reduce the total time of cooking, of course; it just allows you to break it up. In the last few weeks, I braised shanks while cooking a different dinner, while working and while watching football. The “largely unattended” tag is for real: I turned the meat and checked the liquid level about once every 20 minutes.
The shredded meat will keep well for up to a week; the juice, if sealed by its fat (that’ll happen naturally), will keep even longer. But my guess is that you won’t be able to resist using both pretty quickly.
Tomato Sauce With Lamb and Pasta
By MARK BITTMAN
- TOTAL TIME
Ingredients
- 2 large onions, roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- Pinch red-pepper flakes, optional
- 1/2 cup lamb juice from Slow-Braised Lamb Shanks
- 1 28-ounce can tomatoes, chopped or crushed, with their liquid
- Meat from Slow-Braised Lamb Shanks
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 pound pasta, like pappardelle
- Shaved pecorino Romano, optional
Preparation
- 1.
- Cook the onions in the oil over medium heat, stirring until very soft, about 20 minutes. Add the thyme, garlic, pepper flakes, lamb juice and tomatoes and cook, stirring, until saucy, about 20 minutes.
- 2.
- Stir in the meat and continue to cook, seasoning as necessary, until flavors meld, at least 15 minutes. Cook the pasta and serve with the sauce; garnish with cheese.
- YIELD
- 6 servings
Indian Lamb Curry With Basmati Rice
By MARK BITTMAN
- TOTAL TIME
Ingredients
- 2 large onions, roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh chili or crushed red-pepper flakes to taste
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger
- 2 cups chopped tomatoes (canned are fine; include the liquid)
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1/2 cup lamb juice, from Slow-Braised Lamb Shanks
- Meat from Slow-Braised Lamb Shanks
- 2 teaspoons garam masala or curry powder
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup chopped raw cashews
- 2 cups cooked basmati rice
- Fresh chopped cilantro for garnish
Preparation
- 1.
- Put the onions, garlic, chili, ginger, tomatoes, coconut milk, lamb juice, lamb and spices in a large pot that can later be covered over medium-high heat.
- 2.
- Bring the mixture just to a boil; cover, reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally until the onions are very tender, about 30 minutes.
- 3.
- Stir in the cashews, then uncover and simmer steadily until reduced to desired consistency. Serve over rice, garnished with cilantro.
- YIELD
- 6 servings
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