Lamb Osso Buco Ragu

         I love a good Osso Buco.  It’s a wonderful weeknight dinner party dish because you can make it one night and serve it the next and it will only improve with its overnight rest.  But I had never heard of a lamb version of this classic Veal dish.  Then on our pre-holiday Costco run, I saw Lamb Osso Buco in the meat case.  I’ve had great luck with all the Australian lamb at the store—the chops are trimmed, the racks are oven-ready.  I do understand that it’s come an awfully long way to get here but it seems none the worse for its journey. So I bought some lamb osso buco and Thanksgiving Eve, I served it to our house guests on a bed of Yukon Gold mashed potatoes.  They loved it. But I didn’t.  I was disappointed to see that only difference between the Lamb and Veal versions was the lamb.  That didn’t seem right. So I set about to invent my own lamb osso buco.

Ottolenghi’s Salmon Steaks with Spicy Tomato Sauce

         Last summer, our great friend Michael came over to our house with a cookbook given to him by one of his favorite customers at the Bridgehampton Florist, which he co-owns with his husband, Jim. (Yes, that Bridgehampton Florist...viewers of the Barefoot Contessa take note).  “Plenty”(Ebury Press 2010) is the work of London’s Yotam Ottolenghi with a great assist from his Chef/Business Partner, Sami Tamimi.  The book bowled us over.  It is a marvelous collection of recipes entirely vegetarian and incredibly beautifully photographed.  Page after page enticed us to consider quinoa, pomegranates, and Bulgar.  But when it came time to fire up the stove and bring Ottolenghi’s into our kitchen, we landed on an Ottolenghi recipe from January’s Bon Appetit.  I’d apologize to vegetarians everywhere except that Yotam’s recipe for Salmon Steaks in a spicy tomato sauce needs absolutely no apology.  It’s deliciously satisfying, healthy as all get out and comes together in under 30 minutes.