Lamb Gyros

This recipe was a fix to another recipe gone horribly wrong.  I began the evening cooking up some beautiful lamb shanks with the wonderful coffee glaze recipe. I got it from one of my favorite food blogs which will remain nameless because I don't want to give him a bad name for such a bad recipe, because normally his recipes are great, but this one was far from great.  The part of the recipe that really failed was the coffee glaze sauce, it tasted like rancid gamy burnt coffee, there was no fixing it.  So after my initial state of disappointment and defeat I realized how this dish could be saved.  During this whole process my friend Elisa made couscous and stir-fried some Swiss Chard, two lovely side dishes that became fillers.  BAM gyros popped into my head.  I shredded the lamb off of the bone and made a lovely yogurt sauce to go with the gyro style ingredients, and it turned out wonderfully.  Yogurt sauce saved the day.  So here is the fail/success recipe by yours truly.

Serves 3

The Ingredients
2 lamb shanks (about 1 lbs)
1 tablespoon stone-ground mustard
6 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups fresh Swiss chard, chopped
2 cups cooked couscous, follow package but make with chicken broth
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, minced
1/2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 tablespoon Braggs
1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup yellow onion, chopped
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
3 large flour tortillas
olive oil
salt and pepper

The Process
1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Rub lamb shanks in mustard, salt and pepper, 3 cloves garlic, and rosemary.  Put in pan and bake for 30 minutes.  Then turn oven down to 325 degrees and bake for 15 more minutes.

2.  While the lamb shanks are baking cook up the couscous. 

3.  In a large skillet heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add the rest of the garlic to hot oil and cook for about 1 minute.  Then add Swiss chard and cook for about 3 minutes.

4.  Add balsamic vinegar, Braggs, and salt and pepper to taste.  Cook Swiss Chard until wilted but still slightly chewy.

5.  Lamb should be done cooking around this time so take it out and let it rest. 

6.  While lamb is resting keep couscous and Swiss chard warm and covered on stove top.  In small bowl add yogurt, onion, lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste.  Note the longer this yogurt sauce sits, the better it tastes.

7.  When lamb is done resting (about 15 minutes) shred it.  Heat up tortillas and then assemble like this: tortilla, couscous, Swiss chard, lamb meat, and lots of yogurt sauce.  Then wrap the tortilla up like a burrito and enjoy!  Success after all!