madbaker | This week's Resolution Recipe

Lamb Shanks Toulouse

4 lamb shanks (on the bone)
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper mixed with 1 tsp coriander
4 T flour
1/3 cup olive oil
10(+) cloves garlic
1 onion
1 shallot
2 leeks
1 turnip
2 carrots
2 stalks celery
4 anchovies
1 14 oz can tomatoes, or 1 lb fresh tomatoes
3 oz tomato paste
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp thyme
1 bottle red wine
1/4 tsp white pepper

Rub lamb shanks with 1 tsp salt and the pepper mixture. Chop vegetables and set aside. Start oil heating in a large Dutch oven; dust lamb with flour. Brown shanks two at a time; set aside. Add vegetables (and any remaining flour) to Dutch oven and cook over low heat until tender, about 10 minutes. Add more oil if oven is dry. Add anchovies, tomato paste, tomatoes, bay leaves and thyme. Stir and simmer for 5 minutes. Add wine, pepper and salt. Return lamb to pot (gently!), stir and return to a low boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 2 to 3 hours until the lamb meat is falling off the bone.

Serve 1 lamb shank per person, with lots of sauce, over couscous.

What worked: Wow. Just about everything. This was perfect for the foggy, cool weather we're having. The lamb was spoon-tender (it undoubtedly helped that I bought excellent quality lamb from Niman Ranch at the farmers' market). The sauce was rich from the bones stewing and one shank is more than either the wife or I could eat.

We had almost all of the ingredients already from our CSA box, so this recipe called out to me. I don't particularly care for anchovies, but they dissolve in the sauce so no big deal. The couscous sopped up the sauce beautifully. There was a fair amount of sauce left over, but I plan to use it, along with the stripped lamb bones, as a base for minestrone soup later this week.

All in all, one of the most satisfying Resolution Recipes I've done.

What didn't: Um... I guess a slightly larger Dutch oven would have been helpful. The lamb and sauce were barely below the top of the pot, and I splooshed a couple of times while stirring so I didn't stir very much. Because of that, there was a slight ring of burn on the bottom but it didn't impact the flavor. The recipe says to salt and flour the lamb first, but it got sticky. I rearranged the order slightly because I think it will work better that way. You want to give the salt a little time to draw out moisture, but the flour shouldn't cake before you drop it in the oil.

Will I make this again? Absotively, to quote Graham Coates. Only on weekends when I can invest the time - the prep took 30 to 40 minutes, and then there's the cooking time - but I'm sure it will make an appearance at a homeowners' meeting sometime in January or February.