Recipes: Roast Lamb Shank, Rosemary Roasted Small Potatoes, And Broccoli Puree

I recently had dinner at a very good restaurant in Irvington, Virginia called Trick Dog.  It serves an interesting variety of meat and local seafood, and I tried the roasted lamb shank.  It is a cut of meat that is not often found on restaurant menus, and I have always preferred a nice, rare, leg of lamb to anything that has to be cooked for hours.  This time, however, I thought I would see what the fuss was all about.  It was delicious, and I knew I had to try to reproduce it at home.

The trick is in the slow cooking.  I cooked the lamb for about 3 hours at 325F and it came out succulent, moist, and falling off the bone – as it is supposed to.  It takes little preparation, lamb shank is not an expensive cut of meat, and you don’t have to watch it.

I decided that roast small potatoes with rosemary would be very good with the lamb as would a broccoli puree.  The meal was easy to prepare and delicious.

Roasted Lamb Shank

* A 2-3 lb. lamb shank (I bought mine at a non-specialty supermarket)

* 1 cup red wine

* 1 Tbsp. dried rosemary

* 5 lg. cloves garlic, skins left on but punctured

* 1 vegetarian or chicken bouillon cube in 1 cup water

- Rub the lamb with a fresh clove of garlic, rosemary, and fresh ground black pepper

- Preheat the oven to 325F

- Place the lamb in a roasting pan and add the bouillon, red wine, and garlic cloves

- Cover with two layers of heavy duty tin foil and make sure that the pan is tightly covered

- Roast for approximately 2 1/2 hours and test the meat for doneness.  The meat should be very loose and should pull away easily from the bone.  It it is not done, recover and add another 30 minutes.

- Serve

Roasted Rosemary Potatoes

* 5-6 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, quartered

* 1 Tbsp. dried rosemary

* 2 Tbsp. olive oil

* Pinch of salt and grindings fresh black pepper

- Put the potatoes, rosemary, salt, pepper, and olive oil in a mixing bowl and mix well

- Place the potatoes on a pie plate or other baking dish

- Preheat the oven to 450F

- Bake for about 45 minutes, checking after 30.  The potatoes should be a golden brown and slightly crispy on the outside when done.

Broccoli Puree

* 2 lbs. broccoli florets (i.e. without most of the stem)

* 1 cup half-and-half

* 1 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

* 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

* 2 tsp. bourbon

* Salt, ground pepper to taste

- Steam the broccoli until done

- Place the broccoli in a blender or food processor, and add the cream, nutmeg, cheese

- Blend until creamy, taste for salt, nutmeg, pepper, cheese.  Blend again thoroughly

- Serve