Friday: That took a long time

It's good that I didn't try to make this yesterday.  Nearly four hours between starting cooking and finishing eating isn't really a "school night" kind of dinner.  No mise today, and I kind of got lazy about taking pictures a third of the way through, but let's try the play-by-play anyway.

Throw the lamb shank into a pan with some olive oil and brown the outside. Did I mention we're making braised lamb shanks?  We're making braised lamb shanks. So brown them.

Slice up a leak into five chunks about a half-inch/inch thick, and another chunk you'll use later.  Also garlic.

Take five pictures of varying crappy focus because your phone camera has a terrible time focusing in some situations.  Keep browning the lamb.  When you've done that, and it's reasonably brown, remove to a plate, and add the garlic and leek into the pan:

Harass the leek chunks with tongs until they fall apart and soften.  Watch that the garlic doesn't burn (mine was a bit close).

 Put the shank back into the pan with the leeks.

 Add salt, pepper, and rosemary.  I was going to use fresh, but Safeway had crap herbs today, so dried was the next best thing.

Pour wine over the lamb, until it's about half covered.  I had to use about a half of the bottle over the course of the braising, as I added more as the liquid evaporated.  I also added a bit of water towards the end to keep the liquid up.  This wine wasn't a bad fit. It's a somewhat sweet white, with some good fruitiness to it.  I used to use a cheap wine from Michigan when I was there, and it was also a fruity sweet white.  I think a sweeter wine is better than dry for this, because that helps keep the final gravy from being too overwhelming.

This is where I stopped taking pictures. From here, it's basically just two-three hours of waiting for the lamb to be fully cooked.  Roll it over every half hour or so to keep it moist, and ensure that the liquid level doesn't drop too far.  You'll know it's basically done when you have to be careful while rolling to keep the tongs from shredding the meat from the bone.

About a half hour before finishing, make some mashed potatoes, and scoop them into a bowl, and then top with the shank, leeks, and gravy (it's basically just wine, leek bits, and lamb fat. Trimming a really fatty shank is probably a good idea, but mine didn't look that bad).  When you do that, you get this:

 Rotated:

The dark bit on the left is a mushroom...something that I made as a side.  I didn't take any pictures of this.  Basically, I put a couple of cloves of roasted garlic in the bottom of my big ramekin, sliced five or six mushrooms, thinly sliced that big chunk of leek, and then layered the mushrooms and leek.  I drizzled a bit of oil on each layer, and added sage/thyme/rosemary/pepper/salt as well.  Bake for a bit to brown the mushrooms, then add vermouth to let everything stew together.  When it's nearly done (about 30 minutes before serving), drain out any excess liquid, add some breadcrumbs, mix, and return to oven.  Just before serving, shred parmesan over the top, and bake until it's melted and crispy.

Even though it took forever to make, this was really good.  It's basically the definition of comfort food.  Warm, umami-y goodness in a bowl.  It is a bit more of a winter dish, but since I don't have winter here, it's basically just deciding if I want to be in a hot kitchen in august, or a hot kitchen in march.