OK, who has the lamb baster?

Wherever you are, be there totally. If you find your here-and-now intolerable, and it makes you unhappy, you have three options: remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it totally. If you want to take responsibility for your life, you must choose one of those three options, and you must choose now. Then accept the consequences: no excuses, no negativity
Take care folks...

a bit of travel for the week...hopefully I can get out and check this puppy out....

here is the lamb baster Ragtop:D :D :D :D
Braised Lamb Shanks with Pickled Lemons and Spiced Olives
I did this dish in a tagine at the most recent cooking class. As you know I like the tagine as the perfect “Dutch oven for two” (here, here and here). This recipe, again inspired by Wolfert, is dinner for eight. Two Dutch ovens will be needed, each holding 4 shanks.

Yield: 8 servings
See Abbreviations, if needed

· 8 lamb shanks
· A spice mixture of:
¼ t each, turmeric and cumin
½ t freshly ground pepper
1 t each, ginger and paprika
pinch saffron
· A sachet of: 1T each of chopped parsley and cilantro stems
· ¼ C olive oil
· 4 C chicken broth or stock
· 3 medium onion, diced
· 1 C green-ripe or red-brown olives
· 4 preserved lemon, cut into eighths and washed
· salt to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Dust lamb shanks with salt and pepper or a Mid East seasoning such as
Baharat or Ras-el-Hanout
3. On the stovetop, brown lamb shanks thoroughly in large Dutch ovens with olive oil
4. Remove lamb shanks and set aside
5. Deglaze the Dutch ovens with a little water and a wooden scraper
6. In one Dutch oven, add some more olive oil and sweat the onions to translucent
7. Add half of the chicken broth, the spice mixture and bring to boil
8. Divide the onion and stock mixture to both Dutch ovens
9. Reduce heat to medium and return the shanks to the Dutch ovens
10. Add the sachet of herbs to one Dutch oven
11. Add the remaining chicken broth to both Dutch ovens
12. Bring to boil
13. Cover the Dutch ovens and place it in the oven at 350F
14. Braise for about 2 hours or until the lamb is falling off the bone
15. When done, turn off the oven and place the Dutch ovens on the stovetop
16. Skim the fat from the sauce in the Dutch ovens (See note)
17. Remove the lamb shanks and set aside to keep warm in the turned-off oven
18. Carefully pour the sauces into one Dutch oven or into a large sauté pan
19. If the sauce is too thick, add water (not broth or stock)
20. Bring the sauce to boil, taste and adjust seasoning
21. Add the lemons and olives. Reduce the sauce to about 3 cups of sauce.
22. On heated plates, place lamb shanks over rice or couscous, spoon the sauce
over the lamb
Note: A lot of fat will be rendered out of the shanks during braising. The trick is to get it all out quickly and without losing a lot of sauce. Here's how:
a. De-fat the pots before taking the shanks out
b. Use a slotted spoon or strainer and a bulb baster to withdraw the fat
c. Use the slotted spoon or strainer in one hand to hold the onions and other stuff in the sauce at bay, then place the suction tip of the baster on top of the spoon and draw up the fat without clogging the baster with onions and stuff.


oh and rags...Once in a lifetime, there comes a person who surpasses the wisdom of his fellow man. A person whose comments and insight make the brightest scholor contemplate in awe.

...thanks for the complements!

...and plate is out like this! Cigs rule!

have a good week at the office! See ya!

please allow myself, to introduce, myself..............

interesting...

Please allow me to introduce myself,
I'm a man of wealth and taste.
I've been around for a long long year, stolen many a man's soul and faith.
I was around when Jesus Christ had his moment of doubt and pain.
Made damn sure that Pilate washed his hands and sealed his fate.
Pleased to meet you hope you guess my name.
But what's puzzling you is the nature of my game.

Stuck around St. Petersburg when I saw it was a time for a change.
Killed the Czar and his ministers; Anastasia screamed in vain.
I rode a tank, held a general's rank, when the blitzkrieg
raged and the bodies stank.
Pleased to meet you hope you guess my name. Oh yeah.
Ah what's puzzling you is the nature of my game. Oh yeah.

I watched with glee while your kings and queens fought
for ten decades for the Gods they made.
I shouted out, "Who killed the Kennedy's?" when after all
it was you and me.
Let me please introduce myself I'm a man of wealth and taste.
And I lay traps for troubadors who get killed before they reach Bombay.
Pleased to meet you hope you guess my name. Oh yeah.
But what's puzzling you is the nature of my game. Oh yeah.
Pleased to meet you hope you guess my name.
But what's confusin' you is just the nature of my game.

Just as every cop is a criminal and all the sinners, Saints.
As heads is tails, just call me Lucifer 'cause I'm in need
of some restraint.
So if you meet me, have some courtesy have some sympathy and some taste.
Use all your well earned politesse or I'll lay your soul to waste.
Pleased to meet you hope you guess my name.
But what's puzzling you is the nature of my game.

SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
Copyright 1968 ABKCO Music, Inc.
Reprinted without permission, but hey, I'm daring.

see ya!

I'm gonna stick with my origional assumption.

LPA is nuttier than squirrell chit!!

Wow
 

I cant belive I read through this thread ..