Braised Lamb Shanks fall off the bone tender. I made this over the weekend and I did two types of platings to show off the beauty of this meal.

BRAISED LAMB SHANKS

• 4 Lamb Shanks (approx. 0.75 to 1.00 lb each)
• Mirepoix
  • Large White Onion (chopped)
  • 4 Carrots (oblique cut)
  • 2 Celery Stalks (split and diced)
  • 5 Garlic Cloves (chopped)
• Flour (to dredge shanks)
• Salt, Pepper, Paprika (to taste)
• Bottle of Red Wine (just because)
• Olive Oil (or safflower oil)
• Dutch Oven

Preheat your oven to 325F. Dredge Shanks in flour (salt, pepper, paprika added) and shake off excess. Brown shanks in dutch oven on medium high heat in olive oil on all sides (about 3-4 minutes each side). You want to achieve GBD (golden brown delicious). Remove each piece and set aside. Drain half the oil out. Add Mirepoix to dutch oven and brown for 5 to 7 minutes on medium high heat. Add the wine to the mix and deglaze the dutch oven and bring wine to a boil for 4 minutes to reduce out the alcohol. Put the shanks back in the mix and add water so that 3/4 of the shanks are covered. Put lid on dutch oven and put in pre-heated oven for 1-3/4 hours. You MUST turn the shanks at 1 hour to get an even cook. Use a fork to test tenderness and if the meat is very tender (almost fall off the bone) remove from the oven and let the shanks rest on a plate. Cover with tin foil. Continue with sauce below.

MAKING THE SAUCE

Strain the liquid of the sauce into a sauce pan trying not to get any solids from the mirepoix. Use a strainer with cheese cloth for this task. Bring the liquid to a boil and reduce by half. While boiling, make a roux (2 tablespoons butter, equal part flour). For those that have never made a roux, the flour and butter must weigh the same, not by volume. Basically 3 oz of butter to 3 oz of flour using a scale. Make a brown roux and add to the sauce 1/4 at a time until the sauce is creamy. Do not make it too thick. Once done it can be used immediately or kept warm.

PARMESAN POLENTA

Polenta is extremely easy to make. You can get a polenta mix and all you need to do is add butter and parmesan. Boil 4 cups of water and slowly add the cornmeal while stirring. Once all the cornmeal is in the water, keep stirring every minute for about 25 minutes until the water is all evaporated into the cornmeal. Add 2 tablespoons of butter and stir in. Add 3/4 cup of parmesan (more if you want it really cheesy) and stir until all combined. Serve.

SAUTEED BRUSSELS SPROUTS WITH PANCETTA

Take 1 lb of fresh brussels sprouts, wash and let dry. Cut each stem end off and slice each in half. Cut 8 oz of pancetta into small dice and heat over high heat until cooked and remove from pan. Drain 1/2 the fat. Put brussels sprouts in pan as one layer and sauté until nice and brown on each side. Combine brussels sprouts and pancetta.

PLATING

Plating the dish can be accommodated in a bowl or on a plate. Have fun, garnish with baby greens, crispy onions and enjoy!!!

WINE PAIRING

Wine pairing for this meal would be a nice Cabernet or Merlot. One of our wineries, Ancient Peaks in Paso Robles makes great wines and their Cabernet and Merlot are top sellers in that category at Pairings. You could also use a nice Super Tuscan from Italy, we carry a VALDISANTI from Tuscany, Italy. French wines would include a red such as our Bordeaux CHATEAU LA RAME or a Cotes du Rhone GUICHARDE.

Our seared Ahi Tuna starts with a 6oz piece of SAKU. We make our own spice mix of black and white sesame seeds, chili, red pepper flakes, crushed peppercorns, salt, pepper, celery seeds and paprika.

The pan is prepped with EVOO/Canola blend with peppercorns and is heated high until the peppercorns start to pop. We then sear each side for 10 seconds on high heat, remove and let rest for at least a few minutes. The tuna is then cut on an angle and served over a bed of fresh spinach.

The accompanying sauce is our lemon-garlic aioli.

This is a customer favorite. We pair this with either a Santa Carolina Reserva Pinot Noir Rose’ from Chile or a Westside Crossing Pinot Noir from Russian River Valley, CA.

Here at Pairings we use our marinara sauce on about 6 of our dishes / flatbreads. I wanted to use a recipe handed down from my family in Italy with my own twist on it. We make a lot of this, 10 quarts a week (yes a week). I usually prepare this on Wednesday and it usually gets into service the next day. having it hold for a day enhances its flavors… We do not use ham, salt pork or beef (which would be my choice) as some of our customers prefer not to have meat in their sauce… (I keep a small secret stash of that gravy [yes if it has meat its considered gravy, not sauce] just in case though.. shhhhhh)

I use the following ingredients:

• 2 large white onions (diced)
• 12 fresh garlic cloves (minced)
• 1 cup fresh cut parsley (chopped)
• 1/4 cup EVOO
• 14 lbs crushed tomatoes
• 4 lbs tomato paste
• 3 lbs tomato sauce
• 3 cups fresh cut basil (chiffonade)
• 2-3 cups parmesan cheese (fresh grated)
• 750 ml red wine (the secret!) alcohol burned off in sauce pan prior to adding

I cook this is a very large pot starting with sweating of the onions and garlic in EVOO, adding in half the parsley. I then add the tomatoes, sauce and paste stirring the mix until it starts to bubble. Then lower the heat to simmer and add the remaining parsley, basil, parmesan and wine and give it a real good stirring to mix it all in. Let it cook on low for an hour. Once off the heat  I put portions in the Vitamix and blend for 10 seconds to make sure the basil and cheese are completely mixed in and blended. Once completely cooled, we then store it in air tight containers to prepare for service…

The secret…. I’ve been using Vino Godfather lately (my nickname at the restaurant is The Godfather so it fits!!)

mangia tutti – Chef John Campanella