Meet the Winner of The Recipe You're Most Proud Of

We partnered up with our friends at Miele for our latest contest—The Recipe You're Most Proud Of. And we have a winner! We'll feature this recipe, and others from this contest, at upcoming Food52 demos.

A big congratulations to ieatthepeach, whose Pomegranate Braised Lamb Shanks were voted the winner of The Recipe You're Most Proud Of. Here's a little more about her:

What's your least favorite food?
Eggplant.

What is the best thing you've made so far this year?
The New York Times' Catalan seafood stew, which involved cooking a live lobster and making lobster broth from scratch. So much work, but it tasted phenomenal.

Describe your most spectacular kitchen disaster.
One time, I had guests coming over and decided to bake bread. I set some water and yeast aside to proof in a glass measuring cup, then went to reach for something on a high shelf and knocked down a bottle of vinegar. The bottle landed right on the measuring cup, shattering it everywhere and covering me in yeasty water. Instead of bread, we had glass shards in every possible nook and cranny of the kitchen. It took over an hour to clean up the mess, and we were still finding shards of glass in tucked-away places for weeks afterward.

What is your idea of comfort food?
My grandmother's white bean and tomato soup.

Apron or no apron?
Apron, always. I'm a very messy cook—plus, there are so many cute, fun aprons out there!

What's your favorite food-related scene in a movie?
There are so many! Off the top of my head, I love the sandwich scene in The Odd Couple. "I got, uh, brown sandwiches and green sandwiches..."

What makes this the recipe you're most proud of?
This is probably the closest I've ever gotten to making a super-fancy, restaurant-quality meal at home. Normally, my cooking is tasty but decidedly homey. This, I'd happily splurge on at a white-tablecloth restaurant—but I don't have to, because I can make it in my own kitchen with no fancy equipment or training!

Who would you love to serve this recipe to/eat it with?
One of my dear friends, who lives across the country from me.

What inspired this recipe?
I wanted to make something special for Valentine's Day that I could just put in the oven and forget about while working from home. I think this fits the bill nicely!

What's the cooking technique or tip that's changed the way you cook?
Having halfway decent knife skills makes such a huge difference. I'm not a pro by any means, but it's so handy to know how to quickly and easily dice an onion or mince a clove of garlic.

We partnered up with our friends at Miele for our latest contest—The Recipe You're Most Proud Of.