Allyn McCray's "Genovesa"

After our 1/31/10 show, listener Allyn McCray shared her family lamb recipe with us and it sounds too good to not share it. These are her words.


My grandmother used a very deep pasta pot to brown lamb shanks on all sides in extra virgin olive oil. Then, the lamb was removed from the pot add more olive oil was added to fry up about 3 chopped onions and 3-4 cloves of garlic. Then a small can of tomato paste was added followed by a 1-2 large cans of solid packed tomatoes that were "squiched up" in a bowl. The idea is to cover the lamb with sauce, so how many cans of solid packed tomatoes will depend upon how many lamb shanks are being used. You can always refrigerate any unused tomato sauce.

Add salt, pepper, and oregano to taste. Put the lamb back into the pot with the sauce and cook on low for about 4 hours until the lamb falls off the bone. She used to leave the lid slightly ajar because the sauce should cook down and condense.

Remove the lamb from the sauce and serve it up on a separate platter. Pour this rich lamb sauce over steaming penne pasta and sprinkle with grated Romano or Parmessan cheese. Serve with a salad, red wine and crusty French bread. This is a beautiful, rustic Italian meal that really satisfies. My grandmother called it Genovesa.