Black-eyed peas were the starting point. Reflecting on the "earthy" flavor
of black-eyed peas, it occurred to me that pork isn't really the best way to
match their flavor; I think deeply-browned red meat (beef, lamb, or venison)
would do a much better job. Lin found two nice lamb shanks in the freezer,
so that's what it'll be. Here's the current plan:

Chop onions, carrots, celery, and beets while bringing salted lamb shanks to
room temperature. Open a can of tomatoes and pour the juice into a separate
container with a little vodka. Heat grapeseed oil and sear lamb shanks;
remove from pan. Deglaze with the tomato-vodka mixture, then pour that
mixture back into the container. Melt a tablespoon of butter and cook the
onions, carrots, celery and beets briefly, then nestle the lamb shanks back
into the pan. Add tomatoes and tomato-vodka mixture. Cover and cook on low
heat until meat is falling off the bone. Remove from heat, grind black
pepper over, replace cover and let rest for about five minutes.

Cook fresh black-eyed peas in plenty of salted water with turmeric. When
tender, drain beans and drizzle with melted butter.

Lin got me a little crockpot for Christmas; I'll be using it to cook chard
with garlic. I might add mushrooms.

Cut grape tomatoes into halves; mix with mint, lemon juice, and a tiny bit
of sugar and fish sauce.


So we'll be having:

Braised Lamb Shanks with Vegetables and Vodka
Black-Eyed Peas with Turmeric and Butter
Chard with Garlic
Tomato-Mint Relish

I'm not sure what we'll drink with that; probably iced tea.

Bob

On 12/30/2010 12:26 PM, Bob Terwilliger wrote:
> Black-eyed peas were the starting point. Reflecting on the "earthy"
> flavor of black-eyed peas, it occurred to me that pork isn't really the
> best way to match their flavor; I think deeply-browned red meat (beef,
> lamb, or venison) would do a much better job. Lin found two nice lamb
> shanks in the freezer, so that's what it'll be. Here's the current plan:
>
> Chop onions, carrots, celery, and beets while bringing salted lamb
> shanks to room temperature. Open a can of tomatoes and pour the juice
> into a separate container with a little vodka. Heat grapeseed oil and
> sear lamb shanks; remove from pan. Deglaze with the tomato-vodka
> mixture, then pour that mixture back into the container. Melt a
> tablespoon of butter and cook the onions, carrots, celery and beets
> briefly, then nestle the lamb shanks back into the pan. Add tomatoes and
> tomato-vodka mixture. Cover and cook on low heat until meat is falling
> off the bone. Remove from heat, grind black pepper over, replace cover
> and let rest for about five minutes.
>
> Cook fresh black-eyed peas in plenty of salted water with turmeric. When
> tender, drain beans and drizzle with melted butter.
>
> Lin got me a little crockpot for Christmas; I'll be using it to cook
> chard with garlic. I might add mushrooms.
>
> Cut grape tomatoes into halves; mix with mint, lemon juice, and a tiny
> bit of sugar and fish sauce.
>
>
> So we'll be having:
>
> Braised Lamb Shanks with Vegetables and Vodka
> Black-Eyed Peas with Turmeric and Butter
> Chard with Garlic
> Tomato-Mint Relish
>
> I'm not sure what we'll drink with that; probably iced tea.
>
> Bob

That lamb sounds fantastic!

--
Currently Reading: Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold

On 12/30/2010 11:26 AM, Bob Terwilliger wrote:
> Deglaze with the tomato-vodka mixture, then pour that mixture back
> into the container. Melt a tablespoon of butter and cook the onions,
> carrots, celery and beets briefly, then nestle the lamb shanks back
> into the pan. Add tomatoes and tomato-vodka mixture. Cover and cook on
> low heat until meat

Your menu sounds good. We are having the same salad, only I'm using lime
juice instead of lemon juice, but we have over a dozen ripe lemons so I
ought to use them, instead of the limes. I was afraid it would freeze,
so I picked the lemons that were ripe. A week later, more became ripe
and we picked them this morning. It is 75Ëš right now, this weather is so
unpredictable.

Becca

I credit you for this, Om. I did this a month and a half ago (buck a bag for lemons), and it is a good technique. I can't waste stuff, so I thought it would be better than that garbage in the bottle could ever be. It's much better. Works nice.

I hear ya on the black eyed peas, thing, Bob. I never made them very often, but tried porking them up as I would pintos. Just didn't do it. The darker stuff sounds like it will work better. Hope it turns out perfectly.

Lamb shanks are my favorite thing on this planet to braise. When's dinner?

I wrote:

> Braised Lamb Shanks with Vegetables and Vodka

The beets had turned spongy, so I used turnips instead. But since I only
like turnips if they've been caramelized, I made that a separate step in the
recipe: The shanks were browned in grapeseed oil, the meat was removed from
the pan, and the turnips (cut into half-moon shapes) were cooked until
lightly browned on one side. Then the pan was deglazed with the tomato-vodka
mixture, the mirepoix chunks and turnip chunks were added, and the recipe
proceeded routinely from that point.


> Black-Eyed Peas with Turmeric and Butter

This made a believer out of Lin; she'd been concerned that the black-eyed
peas would be tasteless without bacon. But I've made this one many times
before; the black-eyed peas come out with a lovely creamy texture and a
"pure" taste. She liked it a lot.


> Chard with Garlic

This was another simple-but-nice preparation. I had intended to make it in
the mini-crockpot, but the uncooked greens were just too voluminous for that
to be practical, and I ended up cooking it on the stovetop.


> Tomato-Mint Relish

This stuff was addictive, especially with the lamb! I deviated from my prior
description of the dish by adding finely-chopped red onion.


> I'm not sure what we'll drink with that; probably iced tea.

We ended up drinking red wine[1] and iced tea[2].

To serve, some of the black-eyed peas were placed at one end of an oval
platter and some of the chard was placed at the other end. Some of the
braised vegetables were put into the center, the shanks were put on top in a
kind of "69" formation, and more braised vegetables filled in any empty
spots. (The tomato-mint relish had its own bowl.)

Pictures will be posted on Lin's Facebook page because Sheldon can eat a bag
of shit.

Bob
[1] It was Mount Vernon Winery's 2008 Sierra Foothills "Expression" red
table wine.
[2] It was Republic of Tea's "Tea of Inquiry" a blend of green tea leaves
and toasted rice.