Lamb shanks

Eastside Road, February 8, 2014— 

SOURIS AUX AULX, Richard Olney calls this magnificent recipe in his book Simple French  Food (New York: Atheneum, 1985); I don't know why. It is surely one of the Hundred Plates. It is the simplest thing in the world to make.

I ask the butcher to "crack" two lamb shanks — that is, cut them into halves, crosswise of course. I trim them of external fat and fell (the thin membrane that covers the flesh) and I salt them.

Heat a little olive oil in a heavy pot, then brown the lamb in it, turning the pieces so all sides are browned. Then stand them up, throw in fifteen or twenty unpeeled cloves of garlic, cover tight, and let cook as slow as possible for an hour and a half. The important thing here is to use a heavy pot, just big enough to contain the shanks, and to cover it tightly.

Throw in some dried herbes de Provence and continue cooking, adding a few drops of water if necessary. The meat will provide its own liquid. When tender, remove the meat to a hot plate, deglaze the pot with white wine, and put the resulting liquid and the garlic cloves through a food mill to make a succulent, unctuous, heavenly sauce.

Serve with noodles —we used tagliatelle tonight — dressing them and the meat with that sauce. Green beans on the side; green salad afterward.

Cheap Pinot grigio