Rack of Lamb, Dried Apricot, Prunes and Garlic Tagine

Cooking Time: 6 1/2 hours, 280 degrees, covered.

Preparation/Process:

Place pat-dried meat in an olive oiled iron skillet and sprinkle both sides with rock sea salt, fresh-cracked black peppers and dried mint. Drizzle olive oil to lather, and add a pinch of red chili flakes. Arrange a mix of dried fruits, pickled red baby eggplants, pitted Sicilian green olives, a head of garlic on the lamb, and pack down hard to press meat. Add more oil around, then sprinkle dried chives herb and bay leaves (crush them) and cumin seeds on top, salt and pepper; and cover tight with foil (two layers) - and stick on the higher rack in the oven for the specified amount of time.

While tagine is slow-cooking forever, in a medium size sauce pan put a cup of stone ground polenta grits (artisanal producer Wild Hive, preferably), plus 4 cups of water, a pinch of salt, a swirl of olive oil - and leave uncovered on the stove; no heat (just allow the warm aromatic emanation from the oven to soak the grains melting tender). 
  
At the sixth hour, cook polenta: under low heat, stir grits, add half a stick of unsalted butter, two more swirls of olive oil (by the way, try to find Frantoi Cutrera's elemental Frescolio), salt and pepper - stir passionately for 20 minutes. Turn off heat. Then finely grate Grana Padano cheese over the grits, folding over twice, and repeat. Salt and oil to taste. Texture should be creamy yet clumping like mashed.

Take tagine skillet out of the oven, and uncover a Mediterranean "Genie's" decadent orchard and pasture food! (6 1/2 hours keeps the baby skin meat surprisingly attached to the bone!)

To serve:  cut rack of lamb in half (if you could distinguish it from the macerated-charred-moist fruits)  and place on white bistro plate, and spoon over the tagine reduction/sweet herbarium ragout and all! (By the way, you can mash the whole head of garlic and sauce it down with the fruits; make sure to spoon over to the meat the essential oils extracted from this miraculous vintner-farmer marinade; you will note that I didn't use any red wine during the slow-cooking: the lamb is that blood!)

Don't forget the polenta, and the briny peperoncinis on the side.