The finished dish

I substituted lamb shanks for slices of leg of lamb. Lamb shanks are one of the toughest cuts and must be stewed for a while to become tender; the recipe calls for two hours of stewing and that was plenty to get the meat falling off the bone. Shanks also produce lots of gelatin as the connective tissues render out; I thought this added to the texture.

After you stew them, the meat just falls off...

There were two more very important deviations from the recipe. First, I added the orzo to the dutch oven after stripping the meat from the shanks, as pasta absorbing sauce = good. Second, I grated up some parrano (“The Dutch cheese that thinks it’s Italian”) and sprinkled it over top of our bowls. Delicious.

Regrets: the 1/8th teaspoon of cinnamon is probably not enough, at least with the pre-ground cinnamon I used. The undeniable hint of cinnamon is part of what makes this dish so distinctively delicious. I’ll be honest though, it was really good even without a noticeable amount of cinnamon.

Did I mention that this dish is really easy? Aside from the fact that it takes two hours of stewing (which takes no attention at all) and using my cast iron skillet for browning the shanks (guess who’s getting a bigger dutch oven for Christmas?) this is an extremely simple dish that only takes a cutting board, a dutch oven, a plate to rest the browned meat on, and a pot and strainer for the orzo.

I am definitely making this one again– it’s so delicious, it is now one of my main reasons for going to the restaurants I listed above. Go test drive it at one of those and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

I stumbled upon parrano at the store; the label read something like,  ”nutty flavor of parmagiano-reggiano, soft texture of gouda,” and I figured it would be pretty good even if that was mostly (but not entirely) true.  I got it.  I tried it.  Believe the hype.

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cap of largish shiitake mushroom; I was amazed by how much flavor I got out of such a small amount of mushroom.
• Tiny dash of thyme, powdered probably preferable.
• grated parrano, enough to make a very thin coating on the inside surface of the omelette. Too much and you will taste nothing but parrano- not bad, but not the point.

Whisk your eggs then add the thyme and the shiitake strips and whisk a bit more.  Cook in an omelette/small frying pan with the top on;  I think the extra moisture and heat will help bring out the delicious aroma of the mushroom.

The rest is, to me, common-sense egg and cheese preparation 101 but I’ll write it out anyway.  Flip once the egg is sturdy enough and put the parrano on top while the bottom solidifies a bit.  Once the bottom is good, fold the egg in half, enveloping the parrano in warm egg.  Put the top back on and remove from heat; let it stand to melt the cheese some more.  I suggest eating it with some bacon and a roll of bread with olives in.  Maybe it will fill you up; two eggs just gets me started.

Edit- this just in from Wikipedia: “Parrano won a gold medal at the 2006 World Championship Cheese Contest in Madison, Wisconsin for ‘Best of class, Gouda.’ It was also first runner up for the World Champion Cheese Title.”  I think I would enjoy visiting the World Championship Cheese Contest.

We’d already finished the salad by the time Gloria got her camera.

(I lean heavily on intuition while cooking so this will be relatively short on details.)

Spinach salad (aka that salad I can’t stop making):

• A whole mess of spinach
• 2-3 small mushrooms per plate or 1 medium portobello per 2-3 plates
• 2-3 strips bacon per plate (applewood-smoked or pepper-rubbed often a plus)

        The dressing:

• 1 part mustard
•  1 part miso (I’ve used aka-miso w/ dashi)
• lemon juice to taste
•  water or olive oil to thin it out

Fry bacon, chop raw mushrooms.  Toss bacon and ‘shrooms with spinach.  Dressing to taste.

Apple-thyme marinade for pork:

• 1 can apple juice concentrate (thawed)
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 ts dried thyme or some similar quantity fresh

Mix concentrate, vinegar, and soy sauce.  Rub down roast with thyme.  Marinate up to 8 hours and cook that pig.

This marinade has been hit or miss in my two times using it.  Could be it’s not that great or I might’ve gotten the wrong type of roast for marinating one time.

Homemade, ridiculously simple applesauce:

• about 2 apples per middling-small serving; if you can buy Pink Lady / Cripps Pink apples I highly recommend them.
• 1 tablespoon sugar per 3 apples?  Depends on taste and how sweet your apples are.
• Enough water to cover most of the apples

Core apples, chop into quarters lengthwise, and remove any remaining bits of core.  Halve those pieces widthwise.  Bring water to a boil, add apples, return to a boil, and then turn down to simmer.  Simmer around 15 minutes or until you like the consistency of the apples when prodded with fork.  Drain excess water, add sugar, and mash the apples.

If you have an urge to peel the apples, I say resist it.  Skins add a nice bit of texture.  Then again, if you want to make homogenous applesauce, go for it: peel the apples, chop the pieces smaller and/or boil longer, and mash harder.  (If I wanted homogenous applesauce, I’d buy it from the store.)