Corn, Beans, Shanks

I saved more than enough seed corn last year to plant all I need for this year. I was looking at the leftovers, wondering what to do with them since I'm out of space and it's getting late to start brand new corn. So why not cook 'em? Might work. This is what I came up with, adapted from this recipe.

I only had a cup and a half of corn, so I added an extra half cup of  beans that I didn't need to plant. And, cool! A lamb shank in the freezer (saved from the leg I roasted on Easter [next step is to find a lamb-generating freezer]). Since dried corn, beans, and shanks of any animal take a long time to cook, it makes sense to do it all together.

When I made it the corn was hearty and flavorful...but still kind of too tough, even at 6 hours. Shit. I should have soaked the corn for possibly a day and cooked it longer. I'm not mad though, since braised lamb shanks are always delicious and I know the beans came out perfectly. If you get some dried corn use that, but since it doesn't seem to be in any stores, for practicality I'll put up a revised version using beans. And though shanks are often served one to a person, for practicality, it's enough food for 2 people.

Salt and pepper extra liberally.

 

Browning. Nice and slow. 

 

Stir it up. 

 

Braised (Corn) Bean and Lamb Stew
2 cups dried beans
4 cups water (and more as needed)
1 lamb shank
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1/4 cup dried tomatoes, chopped
36 oz. of beer
4  dried chi chien chilis
2 Tbsp. fresh oregano

Put beans in a large pot with 4 C water. Bring to a boil, and let boil covered for 2.5 hours. Add more water as needed to just cover beans (took me 4 extra cups). Go do something for awhile.

Come back to kitchen. Salt and pepper the lamb shank more than you think you should, then brown in a lightly olive-oiled pan over medium heat. Meanwhile, cut the onion and dried tomatoes and fetch the beers.

Once browned all over, nestle the shank into the pot with the beans. Add the onion and tomatoes to the lamb pan and sauté 'til the onions become translucent. Dump the beers into the shank pot (they'll just about cover it but not all the way, and then don't add any additional liquid). Then add the onions, tomatoes, and broken up peppers to the shank pot, stir it up, cover it, and let it simmer vigorously. Brings us up to 3 hours. Go do something for an hour and a half (dishes now, make it easier later).

Return to the kitchen. Flip the shank in the pot, be sure to put the lid on, and go do something for another hour and a half.

Return to kitchen. Puts us at 6 hours total. Stir the oregano into the stew, and at this point you can pull out a luscious, succulent chunk of lamb, a few spoonfuls of tender, savory beans, eat it, and be a happy freaking camper.

If you use corn: Soak 2 cups of dried corn in water for a day. When making the stew, cook the corn on its own for an additional hour, bringing your total time to 7 hours. The shank will still be ready within the last 3 hours. 

 

Growing Strong

Plants are growing, growing, growing. Better to show you:

The patch where I keep finding a friend frog.

 Easiest planting ever (if it ends up working, that is). I set down some hay, allowed it to begin rotting then covered it with compost, sprinkled on the seed, and then a little hay to hold it in place. That's it! Trying this on Belgian endive, since at a point the roots need to be dug and it will be much easier to dislodge them from this than from the ground. My potatoes are planted similarly, and they, too, seem to be doing fine. 

 I'm planting close, a lot closer than many sources recommend. And I'm going with it, since it seems to be working just fine. Any volunteers that come up, I let them do their thing. Above, in a hugelkultur bed, I've planted kale, cabbages, broccoli, cucumbers, marigolds, chard, borage, plus volunteer sunflowers, mustard, and cilantro. I have, generally, four to six inches between plants, and in some other spots more and in other spots less.

 Butternuts, Long Island cheese pumpkins, and beans, alternating spots with an array of zinnias and sunflowers.

 And I'm trying out a Three Sisters planting with my squashes, corn, and beans. I planted my squash and melon seedlings directly into some compost and mulched heavily. They are flourishing, and everyone else seems to be healthfully on its way.

Rather than break my back, I'm incorporating techniques that reduce the amount of energy I need to put into the gardens. And so far, the most difficult part has proven to be installing and repairing fences.

And every day I can harvest chard, lettuce, mustard, kale, peas, and all kinds of herbs. Raspberries are ripening, tomatoes are setting, corn is rising, beans are flowering, and there's more to come.

So how much does this all cost me? $333.59 this year to date. About $80 was on seeds, and the rest on supplies. Less than I had guessed. And out of that I get a new 1,200 square foot plot I can use year in and out, plus more plants whose seeds I can save for subsequent years!

Definitely worth no longer frequenting ShopRite.