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.