Hugs

Meet my lovely salt and pepper shakers.. Unfortunately one of them recently broke his arm.. Alas!

Oh no! I broke my arm....






Hugs!



Hugs make everything better...

(I apolagise for the outrageous cuteness of this blog... Hugging ceramic figures have that effect on me..)

All night long - Slow Braised Lamb Shanks with Soft Polenta, Broccolini and Shitake Mushroom Sauce

In this day and age every cookbook and its mum is about quick food, food in minutes, week night cooking... And dont get me wrong, I love quick effortless food.
But just as quickly prepared, quickly eaten is satisfying, there is something quite indulgent about taking some time to put love and effort into your food.
Cooking for the sensual pleasure of the preparation of the food, rather than just the satisfaction of the eating.
The slow food movement is sweeping the globe.
I would love to see giant billboards displaying the scintillating words, 'WANT LONGER LASTING DINNER?' or 'MAKING DINNER? DO IT... LONGER.'
Given the way many of us live these days it is not possible every night to spend hours preparing our meals, or that we will even want to.
But sometimes you want to just get in the kitchen and lose yourself in there for an age. Put on some sexy salsa music, pour yourself a glass of whatever you fancy and create something fantastic.
Make a thing of it, if you want. Invite some people round for dinner. Or don't.
In her Nigella Lawson's fantastic book How To Eat she fabulously quotes Woody Allen in relation to making food just for yourself - 'Don't knock masturbation.' He once said. 'Its making love to someone I love.'

On that note lets slip off our shoes and get in the kitchen...



For the shanks;
12 lamb shanks
1 large brown onion, roughly chopped
1 carrot, roughly chopped
2-3 bay leaves
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and smushed with the side of your knife
vegetable oil
2-3 stalks of celery, roughly chopped
Enough stock to cover - 1-2 litres
200 ml red wine
Sprig of rosemary, torn off the stem
4-5 stalk of fresh thyme, torn of the stem

For the Polenta;



1200ml of Chicken or Vegetable stock
1200ml Milk
400gm Polenta
100 gm Butter, cubed
Seasoning
Your favorite whisk
Your nicest pan, preferably with a thick base
200 gm grated cheese of your choice - I prefer Parmesan here




For the Shitake Mushroom Sauce;



15-20 dried shitake mushrooms
hot water
1 Brown or spanish onion, finely diced
3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1tbls oil
1tbls butter
splash of white wine, if desired
1-2tsp corn flour
seasoning
smoked paprika, if desired
+
Broccolini, to serve

To cook the shanks;
Preheat your oven to 140c - 150c.
Give the shanks a good season all over - nobody likes a bland shank. Now is the chance to use your pepper grinder. Get carried away, I won't mind.
Heat a little oil in a couple of large pans till quite hot then carefully place your meat into the sizzling pans and cook, turning occasionally until they are well browned all over. Don't be tempted to turn them too often as color equals flavor. And flavor equals wonder.
Remove with tongs to a deep sided baking tray.
Fry your vegetables (onion, garlic, carrot, celery) in the same pan; they will soak up any lamby flavor left in the pan. Fry them till they are quite golden...
Tumble the vege over the shanks and return the pans to the heat. Pour in your wine if you're using or a little stock if you are going nonalcoholic and stir with your wooden spoon till all the delicious bits that have stuck to the bottom of the pan release their hold and become one with the wine/stock.
This is called deglazing.
Add this damn fine liquid to the shanks.
Heat stock in a pan till it comes to the boil. Pour it over the shanks until it covers it by a centimetre or so. Place in your herbs, peppercorns and bayleaves.
Cover tightly with foil and bake for 3-5 hours.
I did mine for 5 hours and they were literally melting off the bone.
Give them a check after 3 and see how they are doing.
Go occupy yourself for a few hours.

You can make the sauce in advance to make your life easier and
simply reheat it when your ready to go.

For The Shitake Mushroom Sauce;

Place the mushrooms in a bowl and cover with 500ml of boiling water. Leave to sit for a good half an hour to plump and infuse the water with their wonderfully unique taste...

Heat oil and butter gently in a pan. Add onion and garlic and fry till translucent and caramelized.
The more flavor you achieve now, the more flavor it will add to the sauce. Don't let the garlic color as it will change the flavor..
Season and add the smoked paprika if you are using.
Fry a little longer.
Chop shitake mushrooms into thick slices and add to the pan. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Add a splash of white wine if desired. Pour in 300ml of the shitake soaking liquid and 200ml of either some shank braising liquid or some chicken or vegetable stock.
Simmer until reduced by half and the flavor is rich and aromatic.



Mix corn flour in a small bowl with 4 tbls water to make a smooth paste. Trickle into your sauce, stirring constantly as you go to avoid lumps.
cook until velvety and no longer tastes of raw flour.
Serve or put aside to heat later.

Note - this sauce is also beautiful if you replace the corn flour with cream and reduce a further 10 minutes to make a lush shitake cream sauce.
About 30 minutes before they are ready make the polenta.

To Make the Polenta;

Heat the stock and milk with some seasoning until simmering.
Get your parmesan grated, your butter cubed and your whisk ready.
Rain in the polenta, whisking as you go. It will seem like a lot of liquid. Trust me - it will come good.
Turn down the heat and keep whisking until it starts to thicken. You want to cook it out for a good 15 minutes or so for it to become beautifully velvety. Add your butter as you stir gently. There is no need to tired out your arm once the heat is turned down. Just stay with it and whisk gently. Add your parmesan (or cheese of your cheese) and adjust seasoning to taste.



Whisk a little more. Add butter as needed and a little cream if desired.
Remove from heat and cover with foil to keep warm.

To Serve;

Steam broccolini until just cooked and still beautifully green. Season.
Spoon soft polenta onto plate.
Top with two shanks, on or off the bone. Garnish with steamed broccoli and drizzle generously with sauce.
Taste and remember why sometimes going the extra miles is worth the effort...




Meltingly soft polenta...






Uniquely rich shitake mushroom sauce...



And Lamb so tender it literally falls off the bone...

Careful... It may be too tender to stay on your fork...

Sumptuous Paprika-Spiced Warm Cannelini bean Salad

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Pear, Cinnamon and Pecan Crunch Muffins

Yesterday I was bitten by the baking bug.
This happens occasionally and it normally happens the day before I'm due to go shopping. So I must get creative.
I scoured my cupboard and my sister scoured her cupboard and then I combed my recipe books till I found something that matched.
Pear Pecan and cinnamon-crunch-muffins from my Belinda Jeffries book. Her recipes have never yet let me down. And thus was our house filled with the scents of heaven.
The pear in itself is a sensuous fruit.
I love its delicate green flesh, its tempting curves and its luscious moistness. Spice it up a little with the exotic scent of cinnamon and the wonderful crunch and earthy nuttiness of freshly roasted pecans and you're on to a winner.
Also may i say that i am generally dissapointed by the over-puffed, over-sweetened, underflavoured giant monstrosities that are normally sold as 'muffins.'
A muffin should be a little dense, and a lot moist.
It should be light - but not cupcake light. And it should be, above all things, a flavor sensation.
And these are everything a muffin should be. With the added bonus of a cinnamon crunch topping.
They taste like a donut in a muffin - with pear....
I am eating one right now... And it is good.

For The Muffin Batter
2 free-range eggs 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup light olive, or flavourless vegetable oil 1/2 cup pear juice 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 2 1/2 cups diced, just ripe pears, plus more for eating while you wait 1 cup plain flour 1 cup wholemeal plain flour 3 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp bi-carb 1/2tsp salt 1 tsp ground cinnamon pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (please.. make it fresh!) 1/2 cup toasted pecans 1/2 cup of raisin, (or if you're like me and aren't a great fan of raisins, tear up some dates into raisin sized pieces)
For The Crunch Topping
1/4 cup castor sugar 1/4 cup freshly roasted pecans, bashed into small pieces 1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 190 C.
Butter a 12 cup muffin pan
Thoroughly mix the eggs, brown sugar, oil, pear juice and vanilla. Gently stir in the diced pears. Try not to lick the spoon.

In another bowl mix the flours, bi-carb, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the nuts and raisins or date pieces and stir till well mixed.
Very gently and with as little mixing as humanly possible mix the pear mixture into the flour mixture. The less mixing you do, the nicer your muffins will be.
When you have a niced mixed batter spoon it evenly between the 12 muffin holes.

Mix together the crunch topping ingredients and sprinkly evenly over the muffins. Bake for approx 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Your house will begin to smell like the garden of eden, and its wonderful because the pear is not forbidden.
Bide your time and then, when the muffin is ready, slather it in butter and devour it whole. Your face may get sticky - but trust me, its worth it.
Just look...

Damn Fine Speck, Smoked Paprika and Potato Soup

It was cold last night. The first night of the year where I wished I had of taken a jacket out with me. And when I woke up this morning it was raining.
Yay! Soup time!
I had a slab of speck on a shelf in the fridge and it called to me.
It knows how to seduce me.
And i fall, oh-so-easily.
Speck. Not much of a name. When you think of cured meats of a similar caliber (I'm thinking prosciutto, Jamon, etc) the names are so exciting you don't need to sell the product.
But what speck lacks in exotic sounding names it makes up for in taste. A brick of peppery smoked sexiness topped with a luscious layer of meltingly tender fat.
Mmmmm.
Next to go into my ingredient inventory was the wondrous smoked paprika i have just bought.
And potato.
A base of slow sauteed onions and garlic and I can taste it already. Can you? Or are you too busy salivating?
Enough chit chat. Let's cook.

1 large brown onion - roughly chopped in a fine dice
4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
2-3 tbls vegetable oil
20gm butter
1 tsp sexy smoked Paprika
3-4 large yellow fleshed potatoes, diced into approx 1-2cm cubes
4 cups vegetable or light chicken stock
150 gm speck, cubed, skin removed and kept


Place your butter, oil, onion and garlic in a pot and saute over a medium to low heat for a good 5-6 minutes, not allowing your onion or garlic to color, but rather become transparent and caramelized.
Add the paprika and speck and the speck rind in one large piece. The rind will infuse the soup with flavor but be easily removable at the end.
Fry a further 2-3 minutes until the whole kitchen smells like heaven then add your diced potatoes and cover with the cold stock.
Don't be tempted to add the stock warm. When you are cooking potatoes it is always better to start with cold water as it provides a more even cooking.
Bring to a gently simmer and cook till the potato is cooked and your salivating everywhere.
Simply serve with some crusty bread or, if you would like the liquid a little thicker, with a tad more viscosity, (great word!) just dissolve 2 tsp of corn flour in a couple of tbls of water and add in a thin stream to the soup, stirring constantly. Cook out a few more minutes.
Devour.

A Couple of ways with Smoked Paprika

My love of smoked paprika started a couple of years ago when I was working in a restaurant on the coast and I had the pleasure to work with a Spanish chef.
He loved smoked paprika and showed me many delicious ways to use it.
Unfortunately I have not been able to get any of good quality for some time - until now.
Smoked paprika from the supermarket is passable, but it tastes more like the ghost of smoked paprika; like it remembers how it should taste but fails achieving its soaring beauty.

So a couple of days ago I went into Black Pearl Epicure, a fine food specialist and they had the very smoked paprika I was looking for.
La Chinata.
It comes in a range of heats but i went with the sweet paprika, it is a little more... versatile.
So here it is. A couple of smoky, paprikery dishes to tantalize your taste buds and begin your affair with this wondrous spice.
The soup is bubbling away on my stove right now, filling the house with its infinitely enticing scents...
My tongue is tingling in anticipation.

Alas.

Greetings sexy lads and lasses,
Alas.
I have been slack these last few weeks.
The good news is i have recently rediscovered my passion for making jewellery.
The bad news is that this means I have not been updating my blog.
The good news is I have been following the challenge and cooking a new recipe every week; just not writing about it (slack, I know).
The bad news is... well there is no more bad news because I am going to be a little more dedicated. I dislike it when blogs I follow just don't update for a whole period of time... What do I read while they are being lazy?

So without further ado I will write up the new recipe's I been experimenting with. Not to mention some old favorites that I cook all of the time. Chances are if they have stood the test of my time others will enjoy them too.
And that means you... Lets get down to business.