Lamb Shank

Say you are home and you want to cook your lady or your man something special for the night....How about trying this...Lamb shank Confit...

INGREDIENTS:

• Preliminary cooking of lamb shanks
• 4 lamb shanks weighing about 400-500 g
• (approx. 1 lb)
• 250 ml (1 cup) duck fat
• 2 cloves garlic (peeled)
• 2 branches rosemary
• Brine (2 cups of salt per
• 4.5 L /1.2 gallons of water)
• Sauce
• 250 ml (1 cup) lamb jelly
• (from cooking the shanks)
• 500 ml (2 cups) tomato sauce
• 200 ml (3/4 cup) lamb stock

DIRECTIONS:

• 1Soak the shanks in brine for 4 hours.
• 2Remove the shanks from the brine. Insert half of a clove of garlic in each one. Place the shanks, rosemary and duck fat in a sous-vide cooking bag. Remove all of the air from the bag and submerge in simmering water. Cook for 6 hours. The meat is cooked when it comes easily off the bone. Set aside in a cool place.
• Sauce
• 1Collect the jelly base from the bottom of the bag used to cook the shanks and add to a saucepan. There should be approximately 250 ml (1 cup). Add the tomato sauce and lamb stock. Bring to a boil and reduce by approximately one half. Set aside. You can also save the duck fat that remains in the bag for other cooking uses.
• Lentils
• 1Boil the lentils in water for approximately 40 minutes until they are soft. Drain.
• 2Never add salt to water when cooking legumes.
• 3Lay out the onion and mushrooms in the bottom of a bowl and cover them with the warm lentils. Cover and leave for 5 minutes. The heat from the lentils will be sufficient to soften the onion and mushrooms. Mix the olive oil and the red wine vinegar in with the lentil mixture. Add salt.
• Garlic cream
• 1In a saucepan, simmer the garlic in the cream for 45 minutes over low heat. Run the mixture through a blender, then pass it through a fine sieve to get a nice smooth cream. Set aside.
• Final cooking of the lamb shanks
• 1Place the shanks and the sauce in a large ovenproof skillet and reheat in the oven for approximately 20 minutes at 300°F, basting them often so they are nicely glazed.
• 2Place the shanks on top of the lentils. Coat the shanks with the sauce from the skillet. Drizzle the garlic cream sauce over the dish. Garnish the shanks with slices of marinated tomatoes and finish with a few twists of the pepper grinder.

I would suggest a white wine for this-

Enjoy...Eat Well My Friends!  and then-

 Well...you know!  Happy Valentines Day!