Feeling Rather Sheepish...

I love to cook.  I would never have thought that growing up I would enjoy something that as a child seemed like a chore for anyone having to do it, but I flat out really enjoying cooking.  I'm a true foodie.  I love reading cookbooks, watching cooking shows and reading cooking magazines.  All of that being said one of my favorite things to do is to try a new recipe.  Two weekends ago I found a recipe in the Atlanta Journal here.  I had never fixed lamb in any way, shape, or form.  Apparently leg of lamb was Andy Griffith's favorite dish so of course I decided I should try it out. 

First slight derailment included learning that boneless leg of lamb isn't cheap.  It ran about $7 a pound at Publix and was questionable looking.  So when I made my journey down to the Buford Highway Farmer's Market (the subject of another blogging day) I found one that seemed to be about the right size for two people and while still expensive ($6 a lb.) it looked to be of good quality and the butcher down there tied it for me and everything.  It was about 3 lbs (not the 6 called for in the recipe.)

I followed the recipe to a "T".  I marinated the meat overnight, cooked it to the proper temperature using a meat thermometer.  It looked perfect.  A stunning roasted leg of lamb...

But...it just wasn't that great.  It wasn't terrible or anything.  But the flavor was just sort of blah and it was a little tough and chewy.  (The veggies on the other hand were excellent.) But I was pretty disappointed.  It was edible of course and we ate it two nights. 

I was discouraged but saw that this past weekend lamb shanks were on sale at Publix (around $3 a lb.)  Do I dare try again so soon?  Was I destined for lamb failure?  Armed with 4 shanks and a new recipe (here) I was ready to try again!  After about 90 mins of prep and around 3 1/2 hours in the oven at about 325 (temp in the recipe seemed too high for me for long cooking time.)  I ended up with...

 
 Not the prettiest in the pot but look at it on the plate!

A whole pile of "Shanky" goodness!  Success never tasted so yummy!  Baaaaaaa.  This one's a keeper!

 (A couple of notes, I omitted the Gremolata in the Shanks recipe and served it with this recipe for polenta.  The polenta recipe while very flavorful I believe has an error.  I think it is 2 cups of milk OR half and half-not both, this was confirmed when I happened to have Ina's episode making it on the DVR.  As you can see my polenta was not able to be "fried up" since it was sort of a runny (but extremely tasty) mess.)

Oh and P.S. the pot came clean with just a little soaking ;)