These days are
Nico days. Days of quiet breakfasts with a cafetière of coffee and steamed
milk. Days of suddenly wanting to take photos of familiar scenes, just because
the light of autumn makes them look so new and fresh and beautiful. Days
for reading poetry at night; days for picking up long books once abandoned.
Days of writing, while a lamb shank sits in the oven, quietly, patiently
melting.
Spanish-spiced, slow cooked lamb shank
Lamb shank is a cheap
cut, at least in the UK, and prepared this way it takes almost no effort (if a
bit of time). The result, however, is an amazing piece of meat, full of flavour
and falling-off-the-bone tender. It’s worth tracking down sweet smoked paprika
for this Moro-inspired dish. Smoked paprika has recently become one of my
favourite spices, sweet and deep in flavour with a wonderful smoky finish. One
lamb shank serves one or (from 350–400g or so) two.
one lamb shank
two or three
cloves garlic
juice of one
lemon
Spanish sweet
smoked paprika
some sprigs of
fresh (lemon) thyme, leaves off the stems, crushed or chopped
a glug of olive
oil
Either pound the garlic to a paste in a pestle and mortar, or crush under
a knife and chop very finely. Combine with the lemon juice, olive oil, thyme,
paprika, and some sea salt and black pepper. Rub the lamb shank with the
marinade and place in a 140°C oven (285°F; 15-25° less if fan-assisted). Leave
for three to four hours, until the meat falls off the bone. Tip out most of the
fat from the dish, deglaze on the hob with some red wine or port (or simply
water or stock) and reduce slightly to make a sauce, to be dipped up with
flatbread or spooned through potato mash. A salad of the purple-and-orange
carrots I received in my veg box today would have been the perfect
accompaniment. But I ate them all for lunch.
- Naomi