Can anyone refuse this week’s cracker of a meal at our place?

Well the winters cold is nipping at our ears, snow is falling on the near by hills and Slow-cooked lamb shanks served on a bed of creamy mashed potatoes is all I can think of.

Here’s one of my new favourites, us in Sun-dried tomatoes and Pesto along with capsicums and Spanish onion. Well strap in as I go and give the new cast iron cooker a tryout….

[[Show as slideshow]]

About:

Diabetic, Egg free, Heart friendly, Low Carb, Low GI, Nut free, Gluten Free

Easy to cook

Prep time: 30 Minutes

Cook time: 3 ½ Hours

Ingredients (serves 6)

• 3-4 tbs  first pressing Extra Virgin olive oil
• 6 Frenched lamb shanks
• 2 red onions, sliced
• 2 red capsicum, seeds removed, thickly sliced
• 2 yellow capsicum, seeds removed, thickly sliced
• 6 garlic cloves, crushed
• 300ml white wine (preserved the rest to have with dinner)
• 3 tbs sun-dried tomato pesto
• 2 cups (500ml) lamb or beef stock ( I prefer Beef Consumme’)
• 10 vine-ripened tomatoes, quartered
• Leaves of 1 long sprig rosemary
• 2 tbs chopped flat-leaf parsley
• Creamy mashed potato, to serve

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. (fan forced or conventional)
2. Heat the oil in a cast iron cooker (pot) over high heat and brown lamb shanks in batches to seal on all sides. Remove and set aside. (be careful as the hot oil really burns)
3. Reduce heat to medium and add onion, capsicum and garlic to the casserole. Cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes until vegetables start to soften (the onions will become translucent).
4. Add wine, pesto and stock, and then return shanks to pan.
5. Add tomato and rosemary and season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, cover, and roast in oven for 2 1/2 hours.
6. Remove lid and cook for a further hour. Stir in parsley, reserving a little to garnish.
7. To serve, dollop mash on good size plates, sit a shank on top and spoon around some sauce and vegetables.
8. Garnish with parsley (optional).

Note: I make a special potato bake which I use as the base for the meal and place fresh beans on the side drizzled with a good olive oil and sea salt

Well again it’s winter but really this is a dish that is just as good in spring or summer, slow cooked leg of lamb (7 hours) and I am going to try a new slow cooker (Kambrook 6 litre)

About:

Diabetic, Egg free, Heart friendly, Low Carb, Low GI, Nut free, Gluten Free

Easy to cook

Ingredients

• 4 anchovy fillets, patted dry
• 3 large garlic cloves, peeled and quartered
• 1 leg of lamb 1.8 to 2 kg leg of lamb (must be able to fit into pot)
• 1 x 200 g piece of pork rind with 5mm fat attached (optional but really nice)
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 tsb. olive oil
• 2 bouquets garnis (thyme, bay leaf, parsley stalk, celery)
• Kitchen string
• 250 ml dry white wine
• 250 ml chicken stock

If you have a cast iron cooking pot then you also need:

• bit of flour around ½ a cup
• water

Preparation

The important thing here is the pot or in my case the slow cooker. I have a new 6lt slow cooker which so far has been great. But if you are fortunate to have a good quality heavy cast iron oval ovenproof dish with a tight-fitting lid that will hold everything snugly.

Follow the pre-cooking instructions for your specific electric slow cooker or if you are using a cast iron pot then preheat the oven to 120ºC/250ºF.

Cut the anchovy fillets into 12 pieces

¼ the garlic cloves into 12 pieces

Make 12 incisions into the lamb and insert a piece of anchovy and a piece of garlic into each. (Hint: I use a boning or filleting knife if you have one)

Grind pepper over lamb and rub with salt.

Heat the olive oil in a heavy fry-pan and brown the lamb on all sides. (if you are using the cast iron pot use it here instead)

Now prep your bouquet garnis. Pretty straight forward cut the celery stalk into pieces about 15 – 20 cm, if you have fresh bay leaf bruise it by crushing in your hand tightly wrap the thyme stalks and bay leaf inside the celery stalks and wrap te kitchen string around until firm (HINT: lay the kitchen string out on the chopping board this will allow you to place the bouquet garnis onto the string)

Now this is where the recipe can go 1 of 2 ways if you have an electric slow cooker then:

• Remove the browned meat and bacon rind from the backing dish or pan you used to brown the meat in an place into the slow cooker

• Put the pork rind into the pan you browned the meat in, fat side down
• Once it has rendered, deglaze the fry-pan with the stock and pour over the lamb

• Add the wine and the bouquets garnis to the lamb and stock.

• Put on the lid and wait

If you are using a cast iron pot then there is an additional step:

Seal the pot before it goes into the pre-heated oven

• Mix up a paste from the flour and water. Use the paste to glue the lid to the dish.
• Stand the dish on a baking tray to catch any drips, and put it in the oven. Forget about it for 7 hours.
• After it’s done, remove the dish from the oven and break the seal. Prepare to be overwhelmed with a most excellent aroma

Gravy:

Collect the juices to serve as gravy. Add corn flour and if you feel naughty cream and stir into a thick rich decadent gray.

I would normally serve this in winter with creamy mashed potatoes and green beans.

Ingredients

• 1.5kg desiree potatoes
• 1 x 55g egg
• 2 tbs grana parmesan
• 125g plain flour
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 300g fresh prawn meat
• 60g unsalted butter
• Salt and pepper
• 6 tsp salted baby capers, rinsed and drained
• ¼ cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley
• Verjuice (or if you cannot get some lemon juice will be fine)

Sage butter

Method

Place unpeeled potatoes in a large saucepan of cold water; bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until tender. The potatoes must be neither under nor over cooked, test with a skewer -when it is easily inserted, they are cooked (avoid testing too frequently otherwise they may become water logged).




Drain potatoes into a colander, cover with a fresh tea towel and place colander over the original pot in a warm place for 10 minutes to drain completely.




Peel potatoes and pass through a mouli (if you do not have a mouli you can just mash them but it’s a lot more work. I went to Ikea and bought this great potatoe masher you don’t even have to peel them AU$20.00), in batches, into the original dry saucepan.




Gently mix in the egg, salt and parmesan.




Sieve in the flour and combine with a few swift folds.




Tip potato mixture out onto a lightly floured bench and gently work it into a smooth homogeneous (uniform) mound.




Using a pastry scrape, scrape down the bench, wash and dry your hands and lightly flour the surface again.




Cut off ¼ of the potato mix at a time and roll out into a sausage shape to a thickness of about 1½ cm.




Cut each sausage into 2cm pieces. Makes about 60 pieces.




Place these on a tray lined with grease proof paper, ready for cooking in salted boiling water (if you are preparing this early it would be advised to cover them with cling wrap, ensure you uncover them about 10 minutes before cooking).




For the sage butter, heat the butter in a shallow frying pan. When starting to bubble, add the sage leaves and cook until crisp and almost translucent. Pour through a sieve placed over a bowl.




Recover the leaves and spread them on paper towel to drain. Keep warm. Reserve butter.




When ready to cook the gnocchi, heat 20g of unsalted butter in a wide frying pan. It should reach beurre noisette (nut brown stage) before adding 100g of prawn meat.




Sauté for one minute, deglaze with a dash of verjuice and add 2 tsp of capers.




Cook gnocchi in a large pan of boiling salted water in small batches of 20 pieces at a time.




Shortly after the gnocchi has risen to the surface (test to see if it is cooked) remove with a strainer, drain and add to the pan.




Toss the pan to coat the gnocchi in the butter.




Season with salt and pepper and add 1 tbs of chopped parsley.




Spoon among 2 of serving plates and top with fried sage leaves.




Repeat




Deglaze the pan with a little of the sage butter previously saved and pour over the finished gnocchi.




Repeat twice more to complete 6 serves.




Serves 6 as Entree

You will need 2 1/2 lbs ripe/juicy tomatoes, 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 pound of onion, 6 garlic cloves, 1/4 c of tomato paste, 1 bay leaf, 1/2 Tb. pepper corns, 1 tsp. thyme, 4 cups heavy cream, 1 tbsp butter. Salt to taste, 1/2 tsp white pepper, 1 lb. puff pastry, 1 egg.

Procedure:

Melt the ½ cup butter in a large stockpot over medium-low heat. Add the onions, garlic, thyme,
bay leaf and peppercorns; cover and cook for about 5 minutes. Do not let the onions color. Add
tomato paste and lightly “toast” the tomato paste to cook out the raw flavor the add tomatoes,
and water if needed. Simmer over low heat for 30-40 minutes, until the tomatoes and onions are very soft and broken down. Puree by passing through a food mill. A food mill works best however you may use a blender in batches or a handheld immersion blender until finished, the strain. Return the soup o the pot. Add the cream, salt, white pepper and remaining butter to taste. Bring soup to a simmer then remove from heat. Allow the soup to cool for two hours or overnight – in the refrigerator.
Divide the soup among six 8-ounce soup cups or bowls. Roll out the puff pastry to 1/4 inch. Cut into 6 rounds slightly larger than your cups. Paint the dough with the egg wash and turn the circles, egg wash side down, over the tops of the cups, pulling lightly on the sides to make the
dough somewhat tight like a drum. Try not to allow the dough to touch the soup. These may be made up to 24 hours in advance and covered with plastic in the refrigerator. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Lightly paint the top of the dough rounds with egg wash with out pushing the dough down. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the dough is golden brown. Do not open the oven in the first several
minutes of cooking as the dough may fall. Serve immediately.

Duration : 0:4:52

[youtube AKyiF0kWEFc]

Duration : 0:1:34

[youtube a26rJULEutI]

Duration : 0:1:1

[youtube tGB6vG6VYoA]

Duration : 0:4:34

[youtube CpIDW-gscfA]

Duration : 0:2:39

[youtube lo9uYNdtERQ]

Duration : 0:6:42

[youtube IQ6X7vEg3F0]