Idaho Lamb Shanks

I'm in Idaho and my favorite lamb shank recipe is in Seattle, tucked into a plastic notebook that I bought in 1993 when I returned from Florence and Guliano Bugiali's week-long cooking school. I went with my friend Sally to celebrate our 30th birthdays. It just so happened that the man I knew I was going to marry dumped me the day before the trip and she met the man she ultimately did marry the week before the trip. Though we were on vastly different emotional wave lengths, we had a great time, and I ultimately forgave her for abandoning me in favor of the phone booth in the lobby for hours on end. I figure the phone company got back at her for that.

I wanted to make lamb shanks and without my recipe or any of my favorite cookbooks I turned to Epicurious and found a most unusual recipe for lamb shanks with orange peel and porcini mushrooms. My favorite lamb shank pot is also in Seattle and the one here was too small, but I stuffed them in it anyway and made do. Cooked the shit out of the fucker, as Bill Buford would say, and they are goo-ood.

Serving with polenta that I learned to make at GB's in Florence. That's a recipe I can remember.