From baa to yum

One thing you can find at the Farmer's Market is lamb! There are a few places, but one in particular stood out, SuDan Farms, one because of the price and two because of the guy running it. They have lots of great products, including wool items, but we went with the lamb shanks - because we could! I asked him, "So, what is the difference between the osso buco shanks at 5.95 a pound and the regular shanks at 4.95 a pound?" He said, "About a dollar." How could I not buy from him? And then he steered us to the regular ones, saying they had more flavor, in his opinion. Thanks, lamb guy! Plus, their hours are 'Whenever we're home' and that seems just about right to me...

This has nothing to do with that dinner but it is more from the market. Artichokes and Jerusalem Artichokes (neither from Jerusalem nor artichokes).

I peeled, sliced, blanched and sauteed them in a bit of olive oil with garlic. Yes, it's like peeling ginger, but totally worth it!

The artichokes I simply steamed and melted some butter; dip, scrape, repeat - for maybe the best, and certainly the freshest, I've ever eaten. Ever.

This is the lamb recipe we used: Herb Marinated Braised Lamb Shanks from Simply Recipes...with a few additions and omissions, but basically this. Rosemary grows outside the kitchen door in a bush the size of a baby elephant so we had plenty. Truthfully, Sarah did pretty much all of it...she's fun to watch.

Marinading lamb shanks

Browning the shanks - fast worker!

At this point, the aroma factor had all of us in the kitchen

Adding this and that...in this case, soy, an adaptation

After being in the oven for almost two hours...yes, it WAS that good!

After we pretty much decimated it into dinner

We love lamb...and we're not ashamed!

Two other things we got, from Chop Butchery and Charcuterie fall into the pate department, Liver pate and venison pate, with pistachios and cherries. The pistachios and cherries may sound like a strange addition, but in your mouth, with the intenseness of the venison, it totally works, And at five bucks per large slab that we haven't been able to finish since Saturday, (though I'm certainly working on it) is a steal of a deal, especially when you get to have an awesome take-me-home-tempting sample first.

Food wise (sure I'll miss my children, but...) it will be hard to leave the west coast land of plenty; Elijah's farm and Sarah's city offerings. But it will also be good to get home and think of how to bring maybe a few of these things to life on Culebra. I'm thinking, I'm thinking!