Braised lamb dinner

Braised Lamb Dinner

The other day I was in the mood for some lamb. Actually, what I wanted was to make braised lamb shanks, which is one of my favorite meals. When I went to the store, my plans changed. No lamb shanks. In fact, they didn’t have much lamb at all. Just one package of bone-in lamb stew meat and two small packages of round bone lamb steaks. Well, beggars can’t be choosers.

Now there are a lot of things I could do with that assortment of lamb. I could just broil the steaks and have them with rice and vegetables. I could make Irish stew out of the stew meat. But, you see, I was in the mood for braised lamb shanks, so I just pretended what I had was shanks and made the dish anyways. Here’s what I did.

2-1/2 lb. of round bone lamb steaks and stew meat

Cajun seasoning

Olive oil

1 small onion, sliced thin

6 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tbs. oregano

1 tsp. thyme

1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper

1 cup white wine

1 cup water

1 can Ro*Tel tomatoes

1 can tomato paste

Tabasco

1 lb. corkscrew pasta, cooked and drained

Preparation

Heat a large braising pan. Season the lamb on both sides with cajun seasoning. Add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Brown the lamb in batches until it looses it’s pink color. Once it is all browned, return it all to the braising pan. Add the onions and the garlic. Stir and cook until the onions are softened.

Add the oregano, thyme, black pepper, white wine and water. Bring it all to a boil. Stir, cover the braising pan and put it in a 350º oven for 45 minutes, but stir it every 15 minutes. After 45 minutes, add the Ro*Tel tomatoes. Stir, cover and return to the oven. After another 30 minutes, add a can of tomato paste. Stir until the paste is all dissolved. Add several shakes of Tabasco and stir. Return the covered pan to the oven for a final thirty minutes.

While the lamb is cooking for the last half hour, put some salted pasta water on the stove and bring it to a boil. Cook the pasta and drain it. When the final cooking time is up, remove the pan from the oven and stir it. Let it sit for five minutes, uncovered.

Serving

To serve this, place a large pile of pasta on the plate. Cover it with the sauce and place lots of lamb next to the pasta. Add some sautéed broccoli, some homemade bread and a good Italian red wine and you’re ready for dinner.