Spoiler alert … I started this musing over a week ago. Since then, Hurricane Beryl bypassed us, but caused too much damage in her path. One location affected was Treasure Beach in Jamaica, a beloved destination my Peace Corps buddies and I headed to several times a year. Daughter had her successful inauguration as a curator and is now out of town with friends. And it’s another Sunday morning. More rain and the Sunday usual tasks. And … housecleaning will wait again (dust bunnies have a reprieve). So, we start again …

Sunday morning … a quick rain storm, hopefully not getting us ready for a potential hurricane.  Laundry, cooking for dinner, and a decision – housecleaning next weekend!

Dinner. A while ago one of the grocery stores miraculously had a good price for lamb shanks. Yes, I bought enough for two meals. They were quickly stashed in the deep freeze (possibly the best ever wedding gift those many years ago). I excavated four last night to thaw and be ready to cook this morning.

Over breakfast, I perused my cookbook library, no need for google today. The initial choices were between Moroccan flavors or the Greek spices of my youth. We’ve been eating a number of North African-esque dishes of late and I thought a change would be good. The late Raymond Socolov’s Jewish American Kitchen won.*

*Funny thing, one of the reasons for starting this blog was for me to assemble thoughts about Jewish food, the subject of which our entire family enjoys consuming. In the meantime, I’ve gone off in many, many other directions!

Sokolov’s recipe using onions and garlic, salt and pepper is a bit short on flavor. I turned to a Greek cookbook to spice it up and added bay leaves and fresh rosemary.* At the last minute I threw in some roasted chestnuts hidden in the pantry for too long.

*The other evening Constant Companion and I did  multi-stop art night. We were late for our final destination, no food was left. Beautiful sprigs of rosemary, however, remained abandoned on what had been displays of cheeses. The next day, Daughter reported that a friend mentioned seeing some lady taking the rosemary from the empty trays. “Did she have white hair?” Daughter asked and then revealed that it was me, her mother! Her friend thought that I was cool! Yes, I foraged the beautiful herbs that were destined for a landfill.

Braised Lamb Shanks. Start with four lamb shanks. Dry then with paper towels. In a large skillet, brown shanks in about 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Scatter 1 cup of chopped onions and 10 unpeeled garlic cloves over the meat. Add salt, pepper, 1 tbsp lemon juice and ½ cup of water. Add the chestnuts if using them. Cover and cook on a low heat for 1 ½ hours. Add more water if the pan seems dry.

Remove the meat. Raise the temperature and scrape the brown bits (fond) from the bottom of the pan. Squeeze the garlic out of the skins, mash into the pan juices. Pour juices over the meat.

Rounding out our dinner were lovely steamed artichokes and a saffron rice.