Well, back in March, as winter ended in the Ozarks, I got some lamb ribs
out of the freezer and took them over to my dear wife's. Her friend had
given her a rosemary plant for her birthday ... but that was back in
January so the rosemary plant was dead. She didn't water it. So I ground
some of the "leafs" and rubbed down the ribs with that and a little salt
and pepper. Stuck them on her grill (a weber, I think ... about 24 inch
diameter kettle kind of thing) over to one side with the coals on the
other.

I really don't do a good job driving a charcoal grill. The fire was too
hot so the ribs cooked through in well less than an hour. They tasted
pretty good but were not particularly tender. I have an "electric fired"
smoker at my place and I can control the temperature nicely in there ...
and smoke them ... I usually use a dry rub and treat them like pork
ribs. Jill McQuown was scandalized by that, so I did my experiment on
the wife's grill. I guess I could try putting some lump charcoal in my
smoker and control the temperature. Maybe that would work. Who knows? Or
I could spend hundreds to thousands of dollars on a fancy grill that I
probably would never learn how to use properly.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago my lamb guy showed up at the opening of
our Farmers Market and I scored a couple more racks of ribs and some
shanks. Only these shanks were mutton and he had sawed them in 1/2 to
3/4 inch chunks. So yesterday I made mutton soup. I googled for a lamb /
mushroom / leek soup recipe but didn't find anything. So I winged it.

I had a bit less than a pound of mushrooms left over from Sunday
morning's brunch. I went out and picked up a bundle of three rather nice
leeks, sliced them rather thinly, saute'd them in some leftover chicken
fat (Schmaltz? I scooped it off of some broth I made a couple of weeks
ago) along with a couple of ribs of celery and a good size carrot.
Meanwhile I seared the mutton and then put it in just enough water to
cover and simmered it to make a pretty tasty broth. Dumped the sliced
mushrooms in the pot with the now tender veggies and then added the
broth and the meat off the shanks. On a whim I added a couple of cups of
milk to the pot (it looked like it needed more liquid) and then, having
now lost my mind completely, added about 3/4 cup of cheap port that I
thought I needed to get rid of.

Threw the pot in the car and drove it over to my wife's (stopping at the
pub to drink a bit of wheat beer on the way). Reheated the soup and fed
it to my wife ... she appeared pleased with what I had created.

Tonight it will be leftover soup.

Regards,
Dave W.

--
Living in the Ozarks
For email, edu will do.

During times of universal deceit, telling the truth
becomes a revolutionary act. - George Orwell, (1903-1950)