Saturday Night Special: lamb shanks with cannelini bean ragout

After a week of hurried meals slapped together (or bought!) I wanted something homey and warm, so I set aside Saturday night as the designated home-cooking night. As it turned out, it was a brilliant end to a brilliant day.

Our Saturday that went a little like this

1. Slept in

2. Walked in the sunny sunny sunshine

3. Had a late breakfast at Culina (Cakes had the spinach crepes with poached egg and spicy hollandaise for $10. I had the fried egg, braised bacon and cheese panini with spicy ketchup $11 - both absolutely divine. The breakfast and brunch dishes were far better than the supper dishes we had there - they seem perfectly suited to what they are, whereas the supper dishes seem to be trying just a bit too hard to be cool....kind of like the kid in your grade 9 class that was trying to be cooler than he was. If only he'd just stopped trying so hard, he actually would have been pretty cool all on his own.)

4. Walked to Strathcona Farmers market and bought some pretty pretty tomatoes and some fresh baby lamb shanks.

5. Drove out to the country and visited a bison farm. Spoke to the lovely lady who runs it about how they raise and feed their bison. Bought 2 gorgeous bison t-bones, 6 bison grilling sausages and a pound of bison salami.

6. Hung out with some really cute baby cows.

7. Rode our bicycles along the riverbank from our house (near 99 street) to the far side of Hawrelak Park and back, about 8k each way, through gorgeous treed trails. You'd never know you were in the middle of a city. I had no idea Hawrelak Park was so big and gorgeous. I can see us having plenty of picnics there this summer.

8. Came home and made supper out of the fresh baby lamb shanks.

I modified a recipe from Gourmet magazine (March 1996) for this supper. I actually put this in my online "recipe box" at Epicurious.com on December 3, 2001, and hadn't got around to doing anything with it until now!

The recipe seemed a bit rich and heavy for an early summer supper so I made the following changes:

• I used white wine instead of red
• I added fresh tomato wedges and baby organic zucchini (and left out the carrots and celery altogether) to the white bean ragout only 5 mintues before the end of the cooking time so they would still be fresh tasting instead of cooked-tasting
• I used cannelini beans instead of navy beans
• I substituted fresh thyme for the dried
• I substituted fresh pureed tomatoes for the tinned tomato paste.

The result was spectacular - much fresher and lighter than it would have been had I stuck to the recipe. The leftover beans were great the next day on toast with eggs.

Comments

[Chocopie]

hi, your saturday was really well-knit. Yes, taste food, fresh air, suitable walk.. Everything was well harmonised with serenity of mind

[tara]

Oh my! I was just mentioning my love of lamb shanks over at Chubby Hubby. And here you are, making the exact dish I've been craving. They must have been the perfect punctuation to a glorious Saturday.

[Eddie]

That is one good lookin' shank. Of course, if you know me, I'm just dreaming about that bone and the marrow inside. Mmmwahahaha!!

[Lyn]

Choc:
Thanks. I thought it was a pretty darn close to perfect day. Funny how the best days like that just sort of happen, organically, instead of being planned....

Tara:

Thanks.
It was pretty good.
I hope you're in for the Canada Day event.

Eddie:
I know what you mean. My uncle Marvin used to gross us kids out by cracking bones and sucking out the marrow. Then I grew up and got to like it. My husband started gagging at the table on Saturday night when I tried to dig the marrow out. It was kind of funny. So I did it more! Mmmwahahaha!!

[Sylvie]

I also love Lamb Shanks. Your rendition does makes for a nice spring-time alternative. In L.A., we experience what they call "June Gloom" (overcast skys due to a heavy marine layer). The lightening of the recipe is fitting for these days.