Lingering lamb shanks

I've been dragging my feet a bit thinking about writing this post, as I was so excited to cook these babies up. 

Honestly, they were less than stellar ... I lightly floured and browned them in my cast iron skillet, then used homemade chicken stock and red wine, some fresh rosemary, garlic and cherry tomatoes to braise them. They stayed on the stove for about 10 minutes, then went into the oven for 2 hours.

I hung out, had wine and cheese, opened the oven door, closed it, had a handful of almonds, watched an episode of Mad Men, then checked again. Y'all, I was hungry, and so I pulled them after two hours. They could've gone another 30 minutes at least.

Once reduced, the braising liquid became a chunky, luscious sauce, and I served that over some jasmine rice. Easy. Added arugula for a green, and I was good to go. 

Added note: photographing meat is hard! This is reminiscent of a 1960s Betty Crocker cookbook photo -- sorry.

The meat and sauce had an amazing flavor, but I felt more cave woman pulling the meat from the bone than fine diner pulling it away with her fork. I ate it and hoped for the best when I warmed it up the next night. Nope. The next night, it dried out a bit so was a little more jerky-esque in some parts. 

Sigh.

The flavor was delicious, though, so I will try again. All the recipes I saw called for more than 2 shanks, so I was trying to adjust the time and porportions. 

Farmers Market Week Two: Blistered Tomato Bliss

Week two:

• First up was asparagus. The season is waning, so I went for it another week. Asparagus is one of my favorite veggies and was one of the hardest to curb myself on when I started eating more seasonally. I could not imaging Chicken Marsala without its accompaniment, for instance, and I'd just learned to roast it in the oven with kalamata olives. It was great raw with a dip, as a soup ... and lest I go on and on, I am going to assume you get the point without continuing my impression of "Bubba" from Forrest Gump.
• I was wooed by arugula. My shopping buddy, Lauren V, swooned over this, so I opted to trade out strawberries on my list for arugula. This is all fine and good, and I know I will ab-so-lute-ly enjoy it, but I'm still getting over the fact that since I have no strawberries, and I opted for wine instead of chocolate at Trader Joe's, I have absolutely no sweet in the house. I could be hitting the honey pot if this gets desperate.
• Marinated olives? Although they're not technically grown here, the company that owns the California grove ships the olives here to Charleston and processes them for olive oil, and into these little containers of mixed marinated ones. I couldn't resist. 
• Lamb. Having purchased from Moss Hill Farms at last year's market, I knew I wanted lamb this week when I walked in. Ok, I did have a steak last week at Lana, and a burger from Moe's on Friday, but your point? I'm obviously still on the red meat train which must mean I need some iron. Or something. I chose lamb shanks for this week.
• Cherry Tomatoes. I don't know how these are coming to the market so fast, but it's happening. The Black Cherry ones from Ambrose Farms were beautiful, but the ones I had last week from Robert Fields Farm off Johns Island were so amazing, I went back to their booth for more.

Besides eating them raw, I made Blistered Tomatoes twice this week with the intention of putting them over pasta. They didn't make it either time, but became the centerpiece of my dinner, with sides of extra sharp cheddar cheese, crackers, edamame and a glass of vino. They're so easy. Here's how I did it:

Blistered tomatoes warm out of the oven

Blistered Tomatoes

1. Halve desired amount of tomatoes and place in oven-proof glass baking dish.

2. Toss with olive oil, garlic salt and dried oregano.

3. Bake at 350 for 15-18 min. or until blistered. They should be warm and soft, but still hold their shape and not be on the way to "tomato sauce."