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Simmering Shanks! Simple Cuisine for the Simple Chef

Posted by Leticia, 05 Sep

This month our "Will Cook for Sex" author Rocky Fino gives us a mouth watering recipe for veal shanks for two which will have your date begging for more.

Dr. Wright
This is Dr. Leticia Wright with IDC Dating.com. IDC Dating.com is where we're creating multicultural relationships everyday. Our podcast today is with Rocky Fino. He is our sexy chef who is the author of "Will Cook for Sex." He's got a great dating book on how to have great meals for your lady without being the best chef ever. Today, we're going to talk about what Rocky?

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Rocky Fino:
We're going to do a little Veal Shank.

Dr. Wright
Okay. Rocky's Break Away Veal Shank.

Rocky Fino:
You got it.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
This is a break away meal.

Dr. Wright
It's a break away meal.

Rocky Fino:
No, but I mean it's a breakaway meal cause this is one that we've talked about a number of simple dishes and this one is combining a couple of simple techniques and putting together a very elegant dish.

Dr. Wright
Okay. So this would be a nice night in, but maybe a little bit special occasion.

Rocky Fino:
Yeah. This one has got a little special occasion on it.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
Starting with the veal shank itself which you're not going to find, you do need to go to one of the better grocery stores that have a better meat department. Sometimes they carry the veal.

Dr. Wright
They have a real butcher there.

Rocky Fino:
Yeah. You are looking for the veal shank. Beef shanks don't work as well.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
They're tougher. It really works better with a veal shank.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
What a veal shank is, is a crosscut. What you're going to see is a round piece of meat, the meat counter with the bone right in the middle.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
So, it's crosscut of the leg section so...

Dr. Wright
That's what we always see in cartoons.

Rocky Fino:
You got it. That's right.

Dr. Wright
Dr. Wright gives a veal shank.

Rocky Fino:
You are so down, you are on the culinary edge.

Dr. Wright
Okay. So we're shopping for our veal shank. Of course you want it fresh. How much fat is on there? What are we looking at?

Rocky Fino:
You're not worried about that. You're looking for a fresh shank. You're very (inaudible). Again, it's veal. It's lighter than a beef. If you find a veal shank, they're going to be probably most likely fresh cause you're going to find them at one of the upper better grocery stores.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
Now, let us do our shopping list. So we're going to pick up a couple of veal shanks. Two shanks, one per pair would be fine. If you're going to make this meal, throw a third in there cause good chance the two of you are going to go for it. Good chance you're going to go for a little seconds. If you don't, it makes a great leftover the next day.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
You're going to get an 8-ounce package of egg noodles.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
They're the little kind of fat curly ones.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
Some fresh basil, one of those little plastic packets you will see up in the herb section. An onion. Just a yellow onion, medium-sized yellow onion. You will need some chicken broth, about two cups, which is about 16 ounces.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
Some tomatoes, approximately about four medium tomatoes. You can use roma tomatoes or the nice ripe red tomatoes on the vine.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
About a quarter cup of flour. So you probably have olive oil. Olive oil should be in your cupboard all the time.

Dr. Wright
Olive oil is just...

Rocky Fino:
If you're running low on olive oil, the veal shank is out. Take a quarter cup of flour on a plate and we're going to lightly flour the shanks. So you're basically going to drop them and dredge them on each side in the flour.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
Then pat it off. We're talking of lightly floured and not heavy floured so you just pat off the...

Dr. Wright
The extra.

Rocky Fino:
Extra. Now, in one pan, in a medium-sized skillet, we're going to add about a tablespoon of oil.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
Preheat the pan and add a tablespoon of oil. As it gets a little hot, we're going to add our onions. We're going to soften our onions, it takes about three or four minutes over medium to high heat.

Dr. Wright
When we soften the onions, meaning they just turn that translucent color.

Rocky Fino:
Yeah. They turn that translucent color. We're just going to soften. You don't want to overdo them.

Dr. Wright
See, I'm learning.

Rocky Fino:
You're doing good. You're getting the hang of it. There we go. Now, you can do these two ways. You could have another medium-sized pan with the other two tablespoons of olive oil heated where we can add our shanks.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
Or you can take the onions, remove them from the heat onto a plate and then work your shanks in that same...

Dr. Wright
Same oil. Okay.

Rocky Fino:
Same pan. We're going to add oil but use the same pan.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
So now that we've soften our onion, let's remove that onion from the heat. Now, heat up two more tablespoons of oil in that skillet and we're going to add our three veal shanks.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
What we're trying to do here is we're just browning the shanks on each side.

Dr. Wright
Just barely.

Rocky Fino:
You're browning them and people ask why do you brown them before you simmer? For two reasons, one texture, two appearance.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
They look better. There is something about having the brown crispy edge when you're done. It looks better as opposed to if you just went straight to a simmer. They just kind of look very pale.

Dr. Wright
Very pale and pink. Yeah.

Rocky Fino:
Yeah. So, we're going to brown our shanks in the oil on each side which is just going to take approximately three to five minutes each side.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
Now, we're going to take a deeper sauce pan.

Dr. Wright
Okay. A deeper actual saucepan, not a frying pan.

Rocky Fino:
Not a frying pan, but a saucepan that can fit. It needs to fit the three shanks, the onions, and then we're going to add the chopped tomatoes.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
The 4-inch deep pan would be fine.

Dr. Wright
Put that in there?

Rocky Fino:
Now that we've heated up, now we've brown our shanks, we're going to transfer the shanks into this sauce pan. Add our onions. Add our chicken broth. You are going to pour in the chicken broth. You're basically looking for the chicken broth just about to cover the meat because the shanks are actually going to cook. They're going to simmer in that broth.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
Browning them has done nothing but brown them. We haven't really cooked much of the meat. We're going to simmer these in the pot.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
Then, we're also going to add, we're going to chop our tomatoes into about 0.5-inch squares also. Add those into the pot. So we've got our shanks, our softened onions, our chopped raw tomatoes, and our chicken broth in the pot.

Dr. Wright
All in this pot. Okay.

Rocky Fino:
All in this pot.

Dr. Wright
We're going to simmer it for how long?

Rocky Fino:
You're going to bring it to a boil first.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
Bring the heat to a boil and then lower and simmer. Put a cover and simmer until tender which is actually going to be around 2 hours.... The aggressive cooking time is about 20 minutes of chopping and browning which you've done in advance when you got home earlier and you got that going earlier and then you've got them in the simmer pot, now you've got time to do other things but it's done exactly that. Now, while that is simmering, when she comes over and opens the door, pow, that smell is just going to catch her like wow, something good is going on in the kitchen.

Dr. Wright
Excellent. So we're simmering it for two hours. Where exactly does our egg noodles or do our egg noodles come in?

Rocky Fino:
That's coming in right now. While it is simmering, you do add some salt and pepper to taste. That is basically add a little salt to the broth mixture and then just take a spoon and give it a taste to make sure you've got...use your judgment on that.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
Now, as we're simmering this with about 15 to 20 minutes to go before our shanks are going to be ready, we're going to do our pasta. Pasta is similar to what we talked about before. We're going to add some water to a saucepan, probably about 3 ounces. We're going to add probably 2 quarts of water.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
I always like to add to my pasta, when I'm doing my pasta water, I always add salt to the water.

Dr. Wright
Salt to the water will do what?

Rocky Fino:
It adds flavor to the pasta.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
The water becomes part of the sauce.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
Now, it adds flavor to the pasta and then I add a little oil to the water.

Dr. Wright
Okay. A little olive oil.

Rocky Fino:
A little olive oil. A tablespoon or two. What that does is it keeps the pasta from sticking.

Dr. Wright
Great.

Rocky Fino:
So you bring that water to a boil and then follow the directions on the back with the egg noodles. You put those into a rolling boil and you let those boil for about 6 to 8 minutes. Test them. It has always been my method on when you're pasta is done.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
You pull a noodle out and you bite it to make sure it is soft all the way through. You don't want to overcook them but you got time with an egg noodle.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
It's not like an angel hair pasta. That is a very sensitive pasta and egg noodles are thicker pasta. There is some leeway there.

Dr. Wright
Okay. Great.

Rocky Fino:
Again, just pull a noodle and taste every so often.

Dr. Wright
Then we will be rinsing that or pouring the water out?

Rocky Fino:
Yeah. Here is how we do this. Now, when the pasta is done, we're going to drain the water out of the pot.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
But just keep a touch of the water in there.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
A lot of people go to the colander and dump it all out.

Dr. Wright
Exactly. That's what I've seen all my life.

Rocky Fino:
All your life you see the colander. Take a lid, hold the lid, drain it, but leave a little water in there. Keep it moist.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
Now, while the pasta is boiling, you can do this prior to, best to do it prior to so your pasta doesn't sit. If your pasta sits for a while, it can get sticky.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
So while our pasta was boiling, our shanks have now completed their simmer. Remove the shanks onto a plate and cover. Take the brothy mixture of the broth, onions, and tomatoes that is left in the sauce pan and we're going to put that in a blender.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
We're going to transfer that to a blender. You're always wondering in a restaurant, you're like "How do they get such a nice creamy sauce?"

Dr. Wright
Exactly.

Rocky Fino:
The blender is a magical tool.

Dr. Wright
The blender magic.

Rocky Fino:
Yeah. It's blender magic. We've now got our onion, tomato, and broth. We put it in the blender, blend for 15 seconds. Add a little salt to taste as you taste it and you've got now your smooth sauce.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
So, take that blender and now that you've got your noodle, preferably you've got this done just before your noodles are finished.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
So now when you dump your noodles and you kept a little water in there, add a touch of the sauce and stir to coat your noodles.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
This way your noodles don't sit and get sticky.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
You've added a little sauce to coat the noodles that are sitting in the pan.

Dr. Wright
All right. But most of it is still in the blender, right?

Rocky Fino:
You still got most of the sauce in the blender but you've added enough sauce to where the noodles are coated so they're not going to get gummy and sticky together.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
Now, we take out plate or plates. Add a base of the noodles. You could use a bowl or a plate that has a rim.

Dr. Wright
Okay. We don't want our flattest plate.

Rocky Fino:
A flattest plate is not going to work real well because the noodles are going to spread out.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
So a nice pasta bowl is always good. Growing up Italian, I had pasta bowls. They're the shallow wider style bowl, but use either like a plate that has got a nice rim on it or any bowl that is wide enough to hold some noodles with the size of the shank. Add our noodles to the bowl and then take our blender full of sauce. Add sauce to our noodles. Now you're pouring your sauce around the noodles.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
Take one of the shanks, place it right on top of the bed of the noodles.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
Then the final step, take your basil and trim the leaves off of the stems.

Dr. Wright
Okay. So no stems, just leaves.

Rocky Fino:
Just the leaves, and then just thinly slice the leaves and sprinkle over the shank.

Dr. Wright
The fresh basil gives a great aroma on top of that.

Rocky Fino:
It is got the aroma, it's got the flavor. Now take one extra sprig of that basil, slide it into the side of the bowl for decoration and serve.

Dr. Wright
Wow. That was very easy, yet delicious. That's going to be a meal that somebody will be talking about for a long, long time.

Rocky Fino:
This is one that she goes home and calls her friend and says "It's like "you won't believe what I had for dinner."

Dr. Wright
That is awesome. It was such a simple meal but I can just tell the flavors combined together are going to be awesome.

Rocky Fino:
They're awesome. The only trick to this one is you got to start a little on the early side getting them simmering.

Dr. Wright
Okay.

Rocky Fino:
It is not like when she walks in the door and you are now going to get started cause you're three hours from eating. The little preparation time that afternoon knowing you're going to get the simmer going early and like we talked about before, when that's simmering for the hour and a half before she walks...

Dr. Wright
Sauce pan and what a delicious way to have an elegant dinner. This particular dinner was an upscale dinner and this is Dr. Leticia Wright for IDC Dating.com. IDC Dating is where we're creating multicultural relationships everyday. Thanks for joining us and I'll see you next time. Remember, ignoring one's conscience is neither safe nor right.

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Responses to "Simmering Shanks! Simple Cuisine for the Simple Chef"

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  1.   Shery says:
    Posted: 06 Oct 06

    MMMMMMMMM! Sounds delicious. I can't wait to try this!

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  2.   notshytc says:
    Posted: 03 Oct 06

    I made this again and put some sherry in it...took it up a notch.....whoaa

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  3.   RayneDelay says:
    Posted: 02 Oct 06

    Sounds delicious thank you.

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  4.   Coco says:
    Posted: 30 Sep 06

    Another good one! Thanks!

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  5.   Ann says:
    Posted: 30 Sep 06

    Going grocery shopping today. Thanks for the new recipe!!

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  6.   embraceme says:
    Posted: 29 Sep 06

    Thank you for the recipe.. I will give it a try..

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  7.   vanessa says:
    Posted: 28 Sep 06

    i love the recipeand will try it soon. and it looks good .

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  8.   ashley says:
    Posted: 27 Sep 06

    you can cook for me anytime sweetheart....

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  9.   unme23 says:
    Posted: 23 Sep 06

    sweetheart u can cook for me any time!!!!

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    Reply to this comment
  10.   BABYMEAT says:
    Posted: 23 Sep 06

    cant wait for the new one, the last one was great!!!

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  11.   besweet says:
    Posted: 22 Sep 06

    This sounds great and easy to do. I'm gong to try it real soon.

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    Reply to this comment
  12.   notshytc says:
    Posted: 22 Sep 06

    If you remember I said we"d cook this Sunday....I Did...and all loved it...had some austrailian red wine with it too....yummy

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  13.   euroecuboy says:
    Posted: 22 Sep 06

    sounds yummy

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  14.   Charlotte says:
    Posted: 21 Sep 06

    I cannot wait to try this recipe

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    Reply to this comment
  15.   whytb0y says:
    Posted: 21 Sep 06

    nice recipe.sounds delicious,but unless i,m married i won't be cooking it for sex .but i will try cooking it to impress my date lol.

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  16.   Sweetheart says:
    Posted: 21 Sep 06

    I can't wait to make it!

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    Reply to this comment
  17.   BABYMEAT says:
    Posted: 18 Sep 06

    i hope im able to cook the next recipe, and actually serve it to a date!!

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    Reply to this comment
  18.   urprincess41 says:
    Posted: 18 Sep 06

    baby I'll cook 4 you just let me be the 1

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    Reply to this comment
  19.   auroraxxx says:
    Posted: 18 Sep 06

    hmmmmmmm can think of nothing more romantic than putting the feed bag on gobbling up on veal shanks lol may need plenty of napkins to keep the sauce of the corners of the mouth and chin areas hehe that is a sure fire bet to keep them wanting more lol

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  20.   justknowingu says:
    Posted: 17 Sep 06

    sounds really good-always good to get more recipes!

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  21.   sweetest1 says:
    Posted: 17 Sep 06

    Looks wonderful... thanks for helping us that are 'culinarily challenged' I can cook, but would never think of something like this!!!

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    Reply to this comment
  22.   Mystify24 says:
    Posted: 17 Sep 06

    Sounds yummy .. just need to find someone to cook it for! :) or someone to cook it for me!! lol

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    Reply to this comment
  23.   vanessa says:
    Posted: 14 Sep 06

    sounds good looking for ward to more recipes

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    Reply to this comment
  24.   unme23 says:
    Posted: 14 Sep 06

    looking forward to the next recipe.

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    Reply to this comment
  25.   ebonybeautyj says:
    Posted: 13 Sep 06

    Yum Yumm very soulful meal!!

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  26.   Dora says:
    Posted: 13 Sep 06

    Sounds so yummy!

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    Reply to this comment
  27.   HEARTNSOUL23 says:
    Posted: 12 Sep 06

    Awesome recipe!! It was absolutly fantastic.......I made it with pork roast and it was just great. Thanks!

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    Reply to this comment
  28.   TrueHarmony says:
    Posted: 12 Sep 06

    Mmmmmmmmm, sounds delicious! I can't wait to test it out!

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  29.   yoby says:
    Posted: 12 Sep 06

    unfortunately no time to try it until now....

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  30.   vanessa says:
    Posted: 11 Sep 06

    i think your recipe is great i cant wait to try it out.just looking at it makes me want to try it ,i like trying new foods and making my own recipes for diffrent typesof food.

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    Reply to this comment
  31.   iceburger says:
    Posted: 11 Sep 06

    when do you come up with the next recipe? Am being asked

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    Reply to this comment
  32.   Fala says:
    Posted: 11 Sep 06

    Simple cuisine works for me since my idea of cooking is to pour it out of a box or heat it up in a pan.

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    Reply to this comment
  33.   notshy-tc says:
    Posted: 11 Sep 06

    Were gonna try this Sunday with friends....sounds good

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  34.   ebonybeautyj says:
    Posted: 11 Sep 06

    This looks so goooooodddddddd!

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    Reply to this comment
  35.   kenyanito says:
    Posted: 11 Sep 06

    Hey Rocky, pls cook it for me, i'll do the dishes... Great recipe Kenya

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  36.   UNME23 says:
    Posted: 11 Sep 06

    LOOKING FORWARD TO A NEW RECIPE!!!

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  37.   Kalilah says:
    Posted: 11 Sep 06

    Hey...I loved it..tried it for dinner with steak instead of veal...DELICIOUS!

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  38.   Kara says:
    Posted: 10 Sep 06

    This looks interesting, but I can't eat veal. How about some chicken or beef recipes? Thanks!

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    Reply to this comment
  39.   EMBRACEME says:
    Posted: 10 Sep 06

    THANK YOU FOR THIS .. I WILL TRY IT.. HMM DINNER FOR DONE TONIGHT LOL

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  40.   SoulFlower says:
    Posted: 10 Sep 06

    That looks very tasty. I would like to see more chicken, fish or veggie dishes for those like me who don't eat beef or pork.

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    Reply to this comment
  41.   yoby says:
    Posted: 10 Sep 06

    i will try it soon soon!!!

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    Reply to this comment
  42.   jazee2 says:
    Posted: 10 Sep 06

    Yes, he is sexy :), forget the recipe. (smile)

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    Reply to this comment
  43.   unme23 says:
    Posted: 10 Sep 06

    can somebody please cook this for me!!!! i will do the dishes!!!!

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    Reply to this comment
  44.   Urmydestiny says:
    Posted: 10 Sep 06

    Looks and sounds delicious, Im certainly going to try this one out!

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    Reply to this comment
  45.   Natural72 says:
    Posted: 10 Sep 06

    Oh ok, I will definately work on these tips. Thanks alot for the advice.

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    Reply to this comment
  46.   Reba says:
    Posted: 10 Sep 06

    This sounds so yummy, thank you once more for another great recipe.

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  47.   BrwnnBeauty says:
    Posted: 10 Sep 06

    can't wait to try this out! THANKS

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  48.   Lisianthus says:
    Posted: 10 Sep 06

    Wow, what a sauce..and how unusual... In the past, I have used only lamb shanks..and veal slices and minced veal. I am going to try veal shanks and perhaps buy a blender! Thanks, Rocky and Leticia...

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  49.   mossimo36 says:
    Posted: 09 Sep 06

    Another great recipe, thanks !! Will be trying this one out as well...

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    Reply to this comment
  50.   francisca says:
    Posted: 09 Sep 06

    thats a mouth watering dish

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