So, have you ever been playing a game on your emulator during a cold rainy day off and thinking, "wow, time really flies when I'm on here -- hey, and it's a cold and rainy day off! This is the perfect combination of factors for me to cook that tough cut of lamb in the fridge!"
But then you realize there needs to be a good meaty broth if you're going to make braised lamb, and there's no good way to just rip off a hunk of hind shank and make a proper stock with it. You have a wide variety of beef chunks and whole and partial chickens in the freezer (being, you feel you must clarify, someone who recently purchased a lot of meat during a sale, rather than some sort of chiefly carnivorous werewolf-person), but you'd rather not dilute the (expensive) lamb flavor.
You also realize you don't have any vegetables to go with it (due to having used them up recently, rather than due to being a chiefly carnivorous werewolf-person), so while you're on your way to figure out the broth situation you decide to grab a can of artichokes because laziness.
And when you get to the store they actually have (cleverly hidden beneath a pile of lamb chops) exactly what you need for once, which is the cheapest lamb in the universe or at least in your state, and also coincidentally the perfect thing to make stock/stew with:
So you get to work with your sauteeing and your browning and you're wondering whether you even need to bother making stock separately, and also how the heck all of this is going to fit along with the lamb shank...
...which is after all quite sizable once unwrapped.
So you chop off the fat blobs where possible, and you chop of the ribby bits and decide they can be spared for stock while the rest browns:
And you go through the first part of the cooking process half-asleep because it's kind of late now to be cooking what with all the impromptu shopping trips in the rain and all, and because all of the stewed things start out the same way, brown the meat first and then soften the onions in the fat....
along with any other crunchy things that can't just boil (a bunch of chopped fennel in this case), then add the major spices (just rosemary today) and then add the liquid and use it to dissolve the crispy burny meaty bits and then put the meat back in on top and add any wispy fresh stuff (like the fennel tops) and make sure the liquid's about halfway up or so and cover it with the lid.
And you also forget about the artichokes you went out in the rain to get until you're partway through the next step (which in the case of braised lamb is a little different and wakes you -- instead of just leaving it on the stovetop forever you have to put it in a medium oven for an hour or two, periodically pausing your game to pull the pan out with two oven mitts, half-throwing said pan onto the stovetop in a heat-fearing panic, opening it to stir, and then shoving it back into the hateful dragon's den that is your oven).
Then you return to your beloved stovetop to boil up the remaining stock and make the world's easiest grain-based side dish, couscous.
And finally you add salt and pepper and forget to take a picture of the final product because you're ravenous and have been gnawing on the pathetic jumble of bones from the stock-pot while waiting for everything else to cook.
Not that you're a chiefly carnivorous werewolf-person or anything, it's just been a long time since lunch.
You've had days like that, right?
Right?
Okay, well at least tell me whether I lost you at emulator or neck bones.
(also, it's really awesome when you've finished a slightly epic endeavor like this and then realize you have a fresh apricot in the fridge to eat afterward. Reheated, it's also good with a plop of plain/honey-flavored yogurt next to the couscous to cool any hot spots in the stew.)
No comments:
Post a Comment