Braised lamb in peach gastrique with sweet potato scallops, baby eggplant, and poached pears

That's right, there's French in the title. We're getting fancy this week.

Actually, this dish isn't nearly as difficult as it sounds. It's certainly time intensive -- requiring a little more than three hours altogether, from start to finish -- but for the most part you're just chopping things up and then throwing them in a pot of simmering liquid. Also, it's relatively cheap and uses lots of fresh, seasonal produce, with the only semi-expensive item being the lamb shank. I don't know about you, but I can certainly appreciate an entree that constitutes a full meal in and of itself -- no soups, sides, or salads needed to round this one out.

I recommend you cook this on a lazy Sunday afternoon, reading a good book or playing vidja games during the recipe's downtime (of which there is quite a bit). Use it to impress your boyfriend/girlfriend/platonic life-mate while saving the money you might have blown going on a date to a fancy restaurant.


BRAISED LAMB IN PEACH GASTRIQUE WITH SWEET POTATO SCALLOPS, BABY EGGPLANT, AND POACHED PEARS
serves 2

• 2 lamb shanks
• 1 sweet potato, skinned
• 6 baby eggplant (or 1 normal-sized one)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup red wine
• 1 lemon, zested and reserved
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 peaches, chopped
• 1-2 pears, peeled, halved, and cored  
• Fresh tarragon
• Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Heat oil in a pot over medium-high heat, season the lamb with salt and pepper, then add to the pan. Sear lamb for about 2-3 minutes on each side, generating a nice brown crust. Remove lamb. Add 2 cups of water and 1/4 cup red wine to pot, let it heat up a bit, then return lamb to the pot. Cover, then braise in the oven for approximately 3 hours. ( I recommend that you check it every hour or so, adding more water/wine mixture if the liquid in the pot begins to dry out; you don't want your meat to burn to the pot.)

Once the lamb has cooked for about two hours, fill another pot with water and a pinch of salt. Halve your lemon, squeeze the juice into the pot, then throw both lemon halves into the water. (Keep the zest reserved for your gastrique.) Bring the pot to a boil.

Halve your eggplants lengthwise, or if using a normal-sized eggplant, cut it into about 12 bite-sized chunks. Slice two thick discs from the sweet potato, about 1.5 inches thick. Add all your veggies to the pot and let it simmer for 15 minutes, or until eggplant is tender.

Remove eggplant with a slotted spoon and continue cooking the sweet potatos until they're fork-tender on the edges but still firm in the center. Remove and cool slightly. (Set aside the liquid for later use.) At this point you can use a biscuit-cutter to cut the scallops into uniform circles if you want to be super-fancy. Otherwise, season the sweet potatoes with salt and pepper and a few crushed tarragon leaves. Melt butter in a skillet and then add the sweet potatoes, tarragon side down. Cook in 450 degee oven for approximately 30 minutes, flipping the sweet potatoes halfway through.

Simmer pears in sweet potato and eggplant water until they are tender, about 15 minutes. Once they're done, you can optionally chop them up into bite-sized chunks

Finally, in a saucepan mix the peaches, cider vinegar, lemon zest, 2 stalks chopped tarragon, and brown sugar. Bring to a boil and cook at a fast simmer until reduced to a loose syrup.


To serve: put sweet potato scallops on plate, lean 6 eggplant halves against them, then balance the lamb shank against the sweet potatoes on the other side. Drizzle gastrique across and around food, then garnish with some (fried) tarragon leaves.