Sunday 30 September 2012

Kids in control

About 25 years ago, I spent a summer teaching my brother and one of my cousins to cook, in exchange for gin (supplied in a glass, with tonic, ice and a squeeze of lemon).  This year, the brother returned the favour – introducing me to pick’n’mix pasta, now firmly at the top of the food requests for Miss 9 and Miss 7.  This is the perfect solution to family food fights – simply provide a wide selection of possible choices and let everyone choose the selection that they like.  It’s also great for birthday party dinners, where there may be long lists of likes/dislikes.  We’ve always found something that everyone will eat.

Pick’n’mix pasta
Dried pasta shapes – we use large spirals or shells, allow at least 60g dried pasta per child – or more if they are looking ravenous!

Sauces
Basil pesto – bought or homemade
Tomato – could be roughly chopped and just warmed, or a rich, thick passata that has spent an hour or more reducing down
Red onion –  thinly sliced, gently sautéed in olive oil, then add 1 tbsp sugar, ½ C white wine, a dash of sherry vinegar and slowly simmer to a thick, sweet paste, add salt and pepper to taste,  it may need a bit more sugar or a dash of lemon juice to reach perfection

Pick’n’mix selections
Protein supply – sliced ham, salami, biersticks, shredded chicken (roast or smoked), smoked fish, anchovies
Veges – cherry tomatoes, corn, capsicum (we generally select for food requiring no cooking!), olives, any other vege quickly blanched
Cheeses – feta, haloumi, parmesan, Colby (for the less adventurous)
Prepare any sauces or veges that require cooking, to be ready at the same time as the pasta is cooked.  Line up the pick’n’mix selections on the kitchen bench and let the children loose.  Replenish bowls, and await the call for seconds.

Deconstructed lamb shanks – the Italian version

A dish of lovely rich lamb shanks, with a warming sauce, nestled up to smooth garlic mash is just delicious.  But if you make a huge supply of lamb shanks, then some variety is needed!  I have several options when faced with this dilemma - one is to head for Morroco via a tagine, the other is to turn to Italy for inspiration.

Italian lamb shanks
Previously prepared deconstructed lamb shanks (½ portion of the full recipe)
1 tin tomato passata (pureed and sieved tomatoes)
½ punnet cherry tomatoes
Basil pesto
Mozzarella cheese
Pasta – preferably pappadelle, but lasanga will also do

Take the frozen portion of lamb shanks out of the freezer a day ahead.   Once defrosted, add ½ - 1 tin of tomato passata, and reheat at 150 C for 1 hour.  Add about ½ punnet of halved cherry tomatoes and cook for another 10 mins, while you cook the pasta.
Here's one I prepared earlier!
Drain the pasta, reserving some of the pasta water.  Add to the lamb, along with a small amount of the cooking water if the sauce needs to loosen up a bit.  Cover with sliced fresh mozzarella and pop under the grill until the cheese is melted. 
Serve with a generous dollop of basil pesto.

Sunday 16 September 2012

Deconstructed lamb shanks

I love lamb shanks - lovely comforting winter food, cooked long and slow to deliver flavour-filled tender lamb.  However, I find a plate with a whole lamb shank a rather daunting prospect - almost too much to eat, as well as logistically challenging.  So I've taken to deconstructing them, and either serving them traditionally (with mashed potato) or re-invented as an Italian dish [recipe here].
 
Deconstructed lamb shanks
Serves 6-10, depending on the size of the appetites

6 lamb shanks (or a mix of lamb shanks and lamb knuckles)
Spiced flour – ½ C flour with selected spices added – could be 1 tbsp paprika plus salt and pepper, or Moroccan style, Cajun style, whatever you feel like
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
2 C red or white wine
1 C beef or lamb stock
1 tin tomatoes
Garlic – to taste, I usually go with about 6 cloves, sliced
Thyme, about 1 tbsp roughly chopped leaves (although if the prospect of de-stemming the little devils is too much, I just throw a handful of thyme in and fish the stalks out later)
Rosemary, about 1 tbsp roughly chopped leaves

You can see that this is a cooking frenzy day - lamb shanks in the background, blade steak in the foreground.

Toss the lamb shanks in spiced flour.  Heat a large saucepan and brown the lamb shanks in olive oil.
Place the browned shanks in the cooking dish, along with the thyme and rosemary.

Add another ½ tbsp. of oil to the pan, and cook the onion until just softened.  Add the carrot and celery and cook, stirring for a couple of minutes. 
Add the sliced garlic and cook until the smell hits you.  Add the wine and allow to bubble ferociously for about 1 minute, before adding the tomatoes and stock.  Heat through and pour over the lamb shanks.
The shanks can be cooked in a slow cooker (4 hours on high), or in a covered dish in the oven (2 hours, 160 C).  Turn once during cooking.  At the end of the cooking time, the meat should be coming off the bone, but not cooked to the stage where they can be cut with a spoon – they will be getting some more cooking after deconstruction…
Cool.  Then prepare for some mess… Take each shank out of the sauce and remove the meat from the bone, cutting into rough chunks.  Combine with the sauce.  At this stage, you can put into the dish for final cooking and serving, or it will happily go into the freezer.  I split it in two, one to eat and one to keep.
For a traditional lamb shank dinner, reheat at 150 C for 1 hour.  Taste and adjust for seasoning – I will usually add a good tablespoon of red currant jelly, the juice of a lemon (to counter some of the richness) and some salt and pepper at this stage.
Serve with garlic mashed potatoes and just-cooked green vegetables.