Roasted Lamb Shanks on Polenta

Usually, I braise lamb shanks, but roasting them, as I have here, results in crispy meat, almost like lamb carnitas that makes a scrumptious pairing with soft, creamy polenta. Add a green salad and you have a perfect winter meal. Meat cooked this way is also good to flavor vegetable dishes, added to beans or tossed with pasta. The fat is rendered during the cooking, and then poured off.

The lamb shanks:

2 lamb shanks, about 2 1/2 pounds total

sea salt or kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

The polenta:

1 tsp coarse sea salt or kosher salt + more to taste

1 cup polenta

4 Tbsp butter

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

For the lamb shanks: Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

using aluminum foil, line a roasting pan or baking dish just large enough to fit the lamb shanks in a single layer. Season the meat with salt and pepper and put in the baking dish. Roast for 30 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees.

Continue to cook, turning once or twice, until the thickest part of the meat can be easily pulled away from the bone, and the exterior is crisp, another 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Remove from the oven and when cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bone, shredding or cutting it into bite-size pieces.

For the polenta: About 40 minutes before serving, start the polenta.

In a large saucepan over high-heat, bring 4 cups of water to a boil with 1 tsp of the salt. When it is boiling, stir in the polenta in a thin, steady stream, whisking constantly. When all the polenta is incorporated, reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring constantly until the polenta is very thick and pulls away from the side, 35 to 40 minutes.

If the cooking seems to be going too rapidly, stir in a little more water. Stir in the butter, the pepper, cheese and salt to taste.

Spoon onto a warmed platter and top with the lamb. Serve immediately.

Serves 4.