Baa Baa cinnamon rolls.

Today's suggestions came from Brad. (Hi Brad!)

He suggested I try this recipe and I was anxious to try it. With the exception of gyros I've had at various festivals, I hadn't had lamb in years. My grandmom made a lamb stew once or twice when I was little, but the only thing I remember about it is the mint jelly. The recipe Brad suggested is called "Grand Cru braised lamb shanks served with dried fig and winter spiced sauce over potato parsnip puree." I would've followed the recipe EXACTLY, but I could not find lamb shanks anywhere. And I mean ANYWHERE. The only supermarket within a ~5 mile radius (4 stores) that had any lamb cuts at all was Safeway. Lamb shanks are supposedly amazing in a crock pot, but since I couldn't spend all of the time in the world searching for shanks, I chose to do the same recipe, but using a Frenched rack of lamb instead. I also cheated and served it over regular mashed potatoes instead of the potato parsnip puree it recommended. So there.

Here's what I did.

~1 lb lamb rib roast, frenched
~salt and pepper
~2 T flour
~2 T olive oil
~2 carrots, peeled and chopped
~2 celery stalks, peeled and chopped
~2 leeks, chopped
~2 shallots, peeled and minced
~3 C chicken stock
~3 T fresh thyme leaves
~1/2 c dried figs, stemmed and quartered
~1 T brown sugar
~1 t ground coriander
~1 t ground cinnamon
~3 whole cloves
~1 bottle (750ml) La Trappe Quadrupel (minus some so my other half could taste it)

Wash lamb under cold water and remove access fat. Pat dry.
Sprinkle salt, pepper, and flour on both sides.
Oil a large saucepan and brown lamb evenly on both sides on medium heat.
Remove lamb.
Add carrots, celery, leeks, and shallots to oil and cook until slightly browned.
Deglaze saucepan with chicken stock and remove any vegetable remnants with a slotted spatula.
Add thyme, figs, sugar, coriander, cinnamon, and cloves; mix.
Place lamb in crock pot.
Pour mixture on top.
Pour beer on top.
Cover and cook on low for 7 hours.
Remove lamb.
Remove cloves
Blend vegetables and broth/beer mixture.
Pour on top of lamb.

This was a lot of work, but it was really good. I'd forgotten what actual lamb tastes like. The beer really stood out which made my other half happy. Lamb isn't one of my favorite meats, but it's fun to have something different every now and then, right? I'm curious how a shank would taste because I keep reading that they're AMAZING in a crock pot. I guess I'll have to keep my eye out for them. Or hop on a plane for New Zealand.

Brad also requested cinnamon rolls, but this time, he didn't give me a recipe. I could have made some from scratch, but since dinner was so complicated, I decided to go the easy route. I bought prepackaged cinnamon rolls and plopped them in the crock pot. And then added walnuts for funzies.

~1 package cinnamon rolls that comes with icing. (I used Cinnabon's with cream cheese icing)
~chopped walnuts

The recipe I found online told me to cook on high for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Check doneness 2 hours in.

This is what NOT to do:

Nestle REFRIGERATED package of cinnamon rolls (after you take them out of the package, of course) and plop them into a greased crock pot. Cook for 2 hours. They were overcooked. Burnt. They were edible when they were warm, but became hockey pucks as they cooled. We trashed the rest of them and that's saying something.

This is what TO DO:

Take a FROZEN package of cinnamon rolls and nestle them in a greased CorningWare dish that fits into your crock pot.
Cook on high for 2 hours.
Add icing and walnuts while the rolls are still warm.

MUCH better. 1000 times better. They're half gone. Or half are left. Whichever you prefer...