VERJUS REDUCTION RECIPES

Steps:

• Use at least 3 bunches of under ripe grapes. You could make bushel fulls, too!
• Press the juice out of the grapes, using your fingers, or by crushing the bunches with bricks, or by using a wine press.
• A wine press is a small barrell with a weighted lid on a substantial screw that winds down, down, down on the grapes. The liquid pours out of a spigot low on the barrel.
• Strain and filter the juice, discarding the skins and seeds. Strain with muslin, a jelly bag, coffee filters, anything that will work to produce a clear liquid.
• If you make a small quantity, use within 4 or 5 days. A larger quantity should be bottled and sterilized, or put in jars and sterilized.
• The formatting of this recipe required me to give a minimum 2 ingredients, so I entered bunches of grapes twice!

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325°. Heat the olive oil in a large enameled cast-iron casserole. Season the lamb shanks with salt and pepper. Add 3 shanks to the casserole and cook over moderate heat until browned all over, about 8 minutes; transfer to a plate. Add the remaining 3 shanks and the rosemary to the casserole and cook until browned. Add the minced garlic and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and return the first 3 shanks to the casserole.
• Using a sharp knife, remove the pulp from the lemon; discard the pulp. Cut the lemon rind into 8 pieces and add to the lamb along with the verjus, stock, garlic cloves, bay leaves, cracked peppercorns and 1 teaspoon of salt; bring to a boil. Cover tightly and braise in the oven for 3 hours, or until the meat is tender; turn the shanks occasionally.
• Transfer the lamb to a platter; let cool slightly. Pull the meat off the bones and trim any fat. Discard the rosemary stems and bay leaves and skim as much fat as possible from the sauce in the casserole. Return the meat to the sauce and cook over moderate heat until warm. Spoon the lamb into bowls and serve.