What's for dinner: Braised lamb shanks, chanterelles, and butternut squash

Lamb shanks are on our list of “favorite things.” All that connective tissue that gets so yummy when you cook them low and slow in moist heat. I use some north Africa-inspired seasonings, some dried apricots, raisins, carrots, and tomatoes in the sauce. After browning the lamb, I just put all the rest of the stuff in the pot and put it into a slow oven (300-325 degrees) for 3 or 4 hours. In this case it’s longer because Dave’s working late, so I reduced the oven to 200 after the meat was tender, like it is in the photo.

I picked up some very clean chanterelle mushrooms at the farmers market today and will do a quick sauté with some shallots – when the mushrooms are really good, you want to mess with them as little as possible. I’m also roasting some butternut squash cubes, and we’ll start with a little salad.