Braised Lamb Shank with Peanut Sauce (Mafé)

For this installment of Cookbook Club, I’m pulling author Toni Tipton-Martin’s latest book off the shelf: Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking. Before sourcing the latest trending ancient grain (fonio), lamb shanks, and hot peppers needed for this recipe, I recommend pouring a cup of coffee and curling up with this book. There is much to learn in these pages. This book begs for your time and consideration.

Beyond recipes, this book unearths a history and the nuance of African American cooking that has long been overlooked and oversimplified. Born of the author’s own frustration with the portrayal of her culinary history, she sourced, acquired, and scoured over 400 historical cookbooks dating back to 1827. In these books she discovered forgotten legacies she wanted to bring to light.

She describes her mission for the book by saying, “In Jubilee, I have tried to honor the kind of joyous cooking that would have turned yesterday’s enslaved and free cooks into today’s celebrity chefs with glittering reputations grounded in restaurant fare and cookbook publishing. I have reclaimed their timeless wisdom and the new light it sheds on the meaning of African American cuisine. And I have tried to end dependency on the labels ‘Southern’ and ‘soul,’ and on the assumptions that limit my ancestors’ contributions to mindlessly working the fields where the food was grown, stirring the pot where the food was cooked, and passively serving food in the homes of the master class.”

She adds, “[In Jubilee], you will find graceful recipes developed by the black professional culinary class on the job - expressive butlers, waiters, bartenders, well-trained plantation cooks, operators of oyster cellars, grogshops, hotels and boarding houses, rice and nut cake vendors, bakery shop owners, caterers, railroad chefs, ranch and stagecoach hands, cooking school teachers, home demonstration agents, nutritionists and dieticians, and classically trained chefs.”

It’s no secret that we at TABLE love a good lamb dish, so we hope you’ll join us in cooking Toni Tipton-Martin’s recipe for this Braised Lamb Shank with Peanut Sauce. Creamy and nutty, these Senegalese lamb shanks sit on a bed of fonio, a West-African “superfood” grain that has been gaining more and more traction. Serve this dish at your next Sunday Supper, and you’re in for a real feast.

PS: Don’t forget to support your local, independent book retailer when buying your copy for our cookbook club. My personal favorites include White Whale Bookstore and Riverstone Books.

Braised Lamb Shank with Peanut Sauce (Mafé)

Serves 4 - 6

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons tomato paste
4 cups beef stock
1 cup creamy peanut butter
4 lamb shanks, about 2 lbs total
1 ½ teaspoons salt, divided
¾ teaspoon black pepper, divided
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 cups thinly sliced onions
3 garlic cloves minced
½ - 1 teaspoon minced Scotch bonnet pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 large bay leaves
2 carrots, peeled and cut into quarters
Rof Gremolata (recipe follows)
Hot cooked rice, couscous, or fonio, for serving

Directions

In a small bowl, combine the tomato paste with ¼ cup of the stock. Stir the peanut butter into the remaining stock. Set both mixtures aside.
Place the shanks on a board and pat dry with paper towels. Season with ½ teaspoon slat and ¼ teaspoon black pepper.
In a Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat until shimmering, then add the shanks and cook until evenly browned on all sides, about 15 minutes total. Work in batches if necessary. Do not crowd the pan.
Remove the shanks to a platter and set aside. Add the onions to the pan and brown, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic, chile pepper, and thyme and cook for 30 seconds. Reduce the heat to low, add the tomato paste mixture to the onions, and cook 7-10 minutes, until the broth has completely evaporated.
Stir in the peanut butter-stock mixture, bay leaves, and carrots. Season with the remaining 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon black pepper. Return the lamb and any juices that have collected on the platter to the pan. Bring the pot to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, 1 hour.
Uncover, increase the heat to medium, and simmer 30 minutes more to allow the gravy to thicken and the meat to become fork-tender. If necessary, let it cook longer, until the shanks are very tender. Add a little more stock or water if doing so, to prevent the sauce from getting too thick. Taste and adjust seasonings.
Garnish with a spoonful of rof gremolata, and serve with rice, couscous, or fonio.

Rof Gremolata

Makes about 1 cup

Ingredients

½ cup minced fresh parsley
3 green onions, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ Scotch Bonnet pepper, seeded and minced, or to taste (or substitute habanero peppers)
Grated zest of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper

Directions

In a small bowl, combine the parsley, onions, garlic, chile pepper, and lemon zest. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Refrigerate up to 1 week, tightly covered.

Story, Photography, Styling by Quelcy Kogel

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