I love to make a “nice” dinner on Sunday night.  Ending one week and moving into another on a good note so to say.  I stumbled upon this recipe for Merguez Spiced Lamb Shanks with Chickpeas in the November issue of Food and Wine and just knew we had to make it for the following reasons:  I love lamb, Lenny loves chickpeas and we both love spice.    The dish said to slow cook in the oven for an hour and a half, I kept it in there for 2 and a half hour, which was perfect as it came out very moist.  The scent of the dish was really intoxicating, the way a Moroccan market must smell, with the addition of cumin, fennel, coriander, paprika, allspice, cayenne and a bit of sweetness.   The lamb came out very moist and the pieces of meat fell off the bones with a mildly intense flavor.  We served it with a whole wheat couscous, some roasted squash and a very nice bottle of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

Now you cannot have an evening of great food and wine, without a great dessert.  Anita, over at Dessert First is hosting this month’s Sugar High Friday (SHF) and it is all about spice.  Since we had an incredible meal filled with exotic spices, we had to end it with the same.  I made a luscious and ultra creamy pumpkin crème Brulee.  It was dense like crème Brulee and it screamed Autumn with the addition of pumpkin, allspice, cardamom, nutmeg and vanilla bean, finished off with a warm and toasty burnt sugar topping (used vanilla infused raw sugar – I keep a jar in the cupboard and stash the pods of the vanilla beans into it, after I scrape the seeds out).

Fantastic way to end the week and start a new one with the one you love!

* Local meal as well.

Recipe for lamb

Breakdown for this meal & the Eat Local Challenge:

Lamb Shanks  -  Petaluma

Onions – Local

Canned Tomatoes – Organic & had on hand

Chick Peas – Local Rancho Gordo

Spices – Organic & had on hand

Squash – Local

Couscous – Organic

Wine – French

Salt & Pepper – what we have on hand

Pumpkin – Organic

Cream – Local

Sugar – Raw

Spices – Organic & had on hand