Decadent slow cooked Lamb shanks

LAMB SHANKS IN PORT AND RED WINE WITH SUN DRIED TOMATOES

My first signature dish, everyone needs a signature dish or two, maybe three. Something you cook really well.

This recipe I combined from a few recipes I’d seen and eaten.

My first experience of this recipe was at a country pub not too far from Bath, www.visitbath.co.uk. The meal was so popular at the pub you would have to give your order at the time of reserving a table.

When my daughter told me this I was wondering why it was so popular. Once eating the meal I knew why, it was very good. It had to be ordered in advance as it takes a few hours to cook.

My version is cooked wholly in my electric wok and slow cooker. You can use a heavy frying pan and a casserole dish in the oven. Or even completely on a low setting in your wok.

Now the recipe:

Ingredients:

Lamb shanks                           1 per person

Plain flour                          

Virgin olive oil

Sprigs of fresh rosemary                                   

Small onions                           2 or 3 per shank

Sundried tomatoes                  half a cup drained

Port                                           125 ml

Dry red wine                             375 ml                 

Chicken stock                          125ml

Chopped parsley

Method: 

Toss the lamb shanks in the flour:

Heat the olive oil and brown the shanks with a few  sprigs of rosemary.

Drain off the excess oil on kitchen roll:

Put the shanks into your slow cooker or slow cook in the oven:

Fry the onions with the rosemary for a few minutes to soften a little, I feel this brings out more of the onion flavour, remove the rosemary.

Add the onions, sun dried tomatoes, port, red wine and chicken stock.

Cook slowly 4 to 6 hours until shanks are fully cooked; i.e. flesh beginning to fall off the bone.

Add a few sprigs of fresh rosemary towards end of cooking.

Remove shanks and keep warm. Put the heat setting on your slow cooker to high and simmer the juices until sauce thickens. Add corn flour thickener if necessary.

Sprinkle over the chopped parsley

Serve with broccoli or asparagus and fresh baby carrots.

I fry asparagus in a little olive oil and fresh ground black pepper and sprinkle with fresh lemon zest. Don't over cook the asparagus.

John’s style roast potatoes.

 Drinks, wine; a good quality rose or a light red wine. It is quite a rich dish so nothing too heavy.

Serve a lemon sorbet to clean the pallet before serving dessert.

Try a measure of peppermint liqueur or cordial with the lemon sorbet.

Something I found out getting rid of a bottle of Crème de Menthe.

Save the richer red wine and rest of the port for after dinner cheese and biscuits.

Two easy stir-fry recipes

CHILLI BLACK BEAN CHICKEN WITH PEPPER AND

OYSTER MUSHROOMS

INGREDIENTS

2 Chicken breasts sliced

            3 tbsp corn flour

            2-3 tbsp groundnut oil

            1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine

            1 green pepper, sliced

            100 g oyster mushrooms, coarsely sliced

            Steamed jasmine rice, to serve

For the black bean sauce

            3 large cloves garlic finely chopped

            2 cm piece ginger finely chopped

            2 red chillies seeds removed and finely chopped

            2 tbsp light soy sauce

            2 tbsp fermented salted black beans, washed and crushed

METHOD

1. For the black bean sauce: combine all the ingredients in a bowl and set aside until needed.

2. Coat the chicken lightly in the corn flour. Heat a wok over high heat and add the groundnut oil. Add the chicken, let it settle for less than a minute and then start to stir-fry. When the chicken starts to turn opaque, add the rice wine. Stir-fry for less than 2 minutes until the chicken has cooked through. Set aside on a plate.

3. Add the peppers and oyster mushrooms to the wok with a splash of water to create some steam and stir-fry until al dente for 1 minute. Return the chicken to the wok, add the prepared black bean sauce and stir and cook for 30 seconds.

4. To serve, place a mound of jasmine rice on the side of the plate and ladle the chicken stir-fry on the side.

This recipe is from Ching he Huang recipes

Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry Recipe

Ingredients

            2 tablespoon soy sauce, reduced-sodium

            1 tablespoon cornstarch

            1 tablespoon rice vinegar

            1 tablespoon ginger, fresh, grated

            1/4 teaspoon pepper, red, crushed

            2 clove(s) garlic, minced, minced

            12 ounce(s) beef, top sirloin steak

            1 bunch(es) broccoli

            2 teaspoon oil, cooking

            2 medium carrot(s), bias-sliced 1/8 inch thick

            3/4 cup(s) broth, reduced-sodium beef

            4 scallion(s) (spring onions), sliced lengthways

       Noodles or Jasmine rice

Preparation

1. For marinade, in a medium bowl, combine soy sauce, cornstarch, vinegar, ginger, crushed red pepper, and garlic. Trim fat from meat. Cut meat across the grain into 1/8-inch-thick slices. Add meat to marinade; toss to coat. Cover and marinate at room temperature for 10 minutes. Drain meat, discarding marinade.

2. Meanwhile, cut broccoli florets from stems. If desired, peel stems. Cut stems into 1/4-inch-thick slices.

3. In your wok 1 teaspoon of the oil over medium-high heat. Add meat; cook and stir in hot oil for 2 to 3 minutes or until slightly pink in center. Remove meat from wok or skillet.

4. Add the remaining 1 teaspoon oil to hot wok or skillet. Add broccoli and carrots; cook and stir for 1 minute. Add beef broth: cook and stir for 5 to 7 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender, stirring to scrape up any browned bits from bottom of wok or skillet. Return cooked meat to wok or skillet. Add green onions; heat through. Serve noodles or jasmine rice

Stir-Fry my way

STIR FRY MY WAY

Staying with the healthy eating theme lets look at cooking a stir-fry.

Stir-fry’s are really quite easy once you have the hang of it.

I prefer the traditional round bottom wok I understand the flat bottom wok is to accommodate electric cookers.

The first time I saw a wok being used was at the food stalls in Singapore where the food was cooked fresh in front of you. There the round bottom would sit comfortably inside the gas ring with the flames licking up the sides. It was quite mesmerising to watch these wizened Chinese cooks throw the noodles and vegetables around in and out of the wok with such dexterity.

When I cook a stir-fry I like to have colour, lots of red and green vegetables, with a blend of tastes from the Asian sauces. I recently went to stir-fry demonstration at a local posh kitchenware shop. Their dishes tasted okay but lacked the excitement or colour and different tastes.

A great website for Chinese and stir-fry cooking is www.chinghehuang.com. I may have mentioned the website on a previous post but it is well worth checking out the site.

Ching he Huang cookery books and Ching’s wok are available from; www.amazon.com

www.amazon.co.uk

What you’ll need for your Stir-Fry;

A round bottom non-stick wok; I like electric for a few reasons, your not tied to cooking over a hot oven. You can place them anywhere in the kitchen or cooking area, close to where you’re chopping up the meat and vegetables. When the weather is okay you can cook outside, that’ll save the cooking smell inside. Electric woks are so convenient, very easy to take apart and wash, even in the dishwasher.

Provisions;

It’s best if you can keep a supply of meats or seafood and vegetables in the fridge or freezer. Not forgetting the sauces and spices you may like. Once you’ve mastered your favourite stir-fry’s you’ll cook them more than once a week. They are quite quick and easy to prepare.

Any meat you fancy, even a mix will do. I only mix white meats like chicken and pork. Good quality beef cuts are a must. I’ve never used lamb. Prawns a must when thinking of seafood but just about all seafood are fine for stir-fry. Fish, you have to be a bit more selective, salmon is fantastic tuna works as well.

The vegetables, green and red; Onions red or white, shallots, spring onions (scallions) fresh ginger, garlic, broccoli, mangetout, asparagus, celery, baby carrots, red and green bell peppers, red and green chillies, baby sweet corn, bean sprouts, cilantro, there maybe more you like. Just try them and experiment, trial and error that is how the recipes are discovered.

Asian sauces and spices; Chinese 5 spice powder, light soy sauce, Thai fish sauce, Shao Hsing rice cooking wine, plum, hoisin, black bean, teriyaki, oyster sauces and any that I’ve missed. Canola and sesame oil, sesame gives your stir-fry a more subtle flavour.

The noodles, there oodles of noodle types. My preference is the fat pansit style noodle that comes from Philippines. You get some equally good nodles from Thailand, what ever you prefer. I always get those you just pour boiling water over for a few minutes before adding to the main event.

How I cook a stir-fry;

I would first get all the ingredients together, sauces and spices, meat and or seafood and the vegetables. Then prepare the meat/seafood and the vegetables you’ll be using.

Lets say a chicken breast and prawn dish; the prawns break off the head and the leggy bits, leaving on the main shell and tail. The chicken breast cut into thinnish strips so it will cook quickly and evenly. You could also use pork loin.

Then prepare the vegetables;

Onion or shallot thinly sliced, crushed cloves of garlic to your taste, finely chopped or grated ginger.

Broccoli broken into florets, mangetout, celery, a note about celery. You don’t have to cut off and throw away the leaves, if they are fresh chop them up with the celery and cook with the dish.

That’s enough greenery, red pepper de-seeded and cut long ways, carrots cut the same way for Feng shui or cut into slivers with a potato peeler. If you like a little spicy heat a few whole red chillies. Keep them whole and whoever doesn’t like them can avoid them.

The sauces, decide what you’ll use, not too many. Maybe hoisin and plum this time and a little oyster sauce.

Boil a kettle of water to have ready to pour over the noodles, have the noodles in a suitable bowl or saucepan.

Have the wok nice and hot, pour in a little oil to cook the chicken and prawns. Cook until the prawns are pink and the chicken slightly cooked coloured all over. Remove from the wok and keep warm.

In with a little more oil if needed and fry the onions, garlic, ginger, celery and chillies if you’re using. Fry until onions starting to go translucent add the sauces you’ll be using, using a teaspoon. Taste to see if you like adding a little more if needed. Add a little soy sauce and rice wine, with a little fish sauce for a salty taste. Then add the broccoli, mangetout and carrots. Cook for a few minutes stirring in well with all the sauce, don’t over cook the broccoli, it looks horrible.

Add the chicken and prawns mixing in well the vegetables.

While you were doming all this, you would have poured the boiling water over the noodles to soften them. Drain of the water in a sieve and stir in well with the sauce, meat and vegetables.

Garnish with cilantro (coriander) and/or spring onions cut length ways.

You could serve the noodles separately.

Healthy Snack Time

Hungry when you’re finished at the gym and fed up with extortionate price of a smoothie or sandwich at the gym.

 Or just need a healthy snack during the morning.

Make your own smoothie, they ‘re really easy if we’re not too lazy to make them. It takes longer to clean the processor/blender than it does to make them.

What you’ll need;

A food processor or blender, a good blender is not that expensive and doesn’t take up too much room.

What to use:

Low fat plain yoghurt. You could get flavoured but plain is better.

Low fat milk.

Wheat germ (a healthy option);

Honey, optional.

Bananas

Frozen berries such as strawberries, blue berries or any that take your fancy.

Optional, a melon, not water melon. Believe it not watermelon is packed with sugar according to the Low GI brigade.

Method;

Put the yoghurt and a banana in the blender with the frozen berries you choose just strawberries or a cocktail. Experiment. The honey if you use.

Blend all this together, add some milk if you think it’s too thick.

Add a dessertspoon of wheat germ and blend till mixed in. Wheat germ is full of all sorts of good stuff, vitamin E and folic acid. No sodium or cholesterol.

Add more if you don’t mind the taste, it’s supposed to give you more vitality. Energy.

You can add it to just about anything you eat or cook.

One thing to remember, it’s still alive if you can imagine a plant still alive. Once you’ve opened it you have to keep it the fridge. You’d be surprised what will start crawling around in it. Nothing harmful.

I didn’t know this when I first bought it. I was living in the Middle East then. To my horror I found all these crawly things in my food cupboard. My cupboards needed a clean out anyway.

I still eat it though and full of vitality.

A healthy sandwich;

Banana and peanut butter on whole meal or multi grain bread. Bananas are at there best when you start to get brown speckles on the skin, they go over quite quickly after this, but still okay for your smoothie.

Just spread over the sliced banana and peanut butter, have it topless or with a top on.

This is great toasted as well for the afternoon or mid-morning snack.

You could sprinkle over a teaspoon of wheat germ for good measure.

Another sandwich;

You’ll need a pitta bread per person.

Fresh lemon juice, olive oil.

White cabbage, parsley,  celery, tomato.

A healthy meat choice to your liking, turkey breast maybe.

Salad cream or mayonnaise, salad cream is a British thing. We do have Hellimans mayonnaise in the UK but I prefer salad cream.

In Las Vegas the best place to buy it is the ‘Fresh & Easy store. They stock a good supply of British stuff at a reasonable price.

Http://www.freshandeasy.com

Make a Cypriot style salad of chopped cabbage, stick or two of celery and chopped parsley. Mix together with the lemon juice, go easy on the lemon juice and olive oil.

Warm the pitta bread either in the microwave or under the grill (broiler). Not too much, you need to keep the bread soft. Just enough so you can split the bread and spread on the salad cream or mayonnaise and fill with the salad, tomato and meat.

If the warmed bread stayed soft enough you should be able to fold or roll.

A Healthy start to the day

 A HEALTHY BREAKFAST

First, to reinforce my post about not buying potatoes that have a green skin. This was on Yahoo UK this morning.

Potatoes


Potatoes may look innocent enough, but did you know they actually come from the same family as poisonous plant the deadly nightshade? Although they are not quite as dangerous as this family member, potatoes do pose certain risks to our health due to them containing toxic compounds known as glycoalkaloids, the most worrying of which is solanine which affects the nervous and digestive systems causing headaches, weakness, confusion, diarrhoea and vomiting amongst other things.



Poisoning from potatoes occurs very rarely but fans of the popular vegetable should take measures to protect themselves by avoiding potatoes with sprouts - which tend to have a higher concentration of glycoalkaloids - and those which have turned green. Although the green colour of the potatoes is harmless in itself, it does indicate that the potatoes have been exposed to light, which can also encourage solanine levels to rise over the safe level for consumption.

Like I said before, I see quite a lot of potatoes with a green skin in the supermarkets here in Las Vegas.

Now for my version of a healthy start to the day. The experts do say having a good breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

If you get up early and have plenty of time in the day these should suit you fine. Or just have one of these.

Number one a cup of tea made in a pot not just a tea bag in a mug. You get a much better flavour from tea if the leaves or bags can swirl around in the pot.

A bowl of porridge, (oatmeal to our American cousins) I use “Bob’s Red Mill” extra thick whole grain rolled oats, www.bobsredmill.com.

 In the UK I would have used “Scots porridge oats” or “Jordans”.

I cook my porridge in the microwave. Once you get the hang of the timings for your microwave it is much simpler and saves you time.

You need a big microwave safe bowl. I have a 2.5 L (2.5 qrt USA) pyrex bowl. This size is a must for using your microwave. I use it for boiling potatoes and rice.

Take 1 measure of the oats to 2 and a little bit more (depends on how thick you want the porridge or for how long you will cook the porridge) of water.

A small amount of salt to your taste.

 You can use milk or milk and water. But beware using milk, it boils over if you don’t keep an eye on it and we don’t want to have to do that.

Depending on how much I’m making I first boil the porridge on the highest setting for 5 or 6 minutes. You’ll have to watch the porridge boiling until you get the hang of your microwave timings and power. It makes a real mess if you let it boil over.

After the first boiling stir the porridge well and put back in the microwave on a low setting, not letting it boil. You can cook it like this for as long as you need to. Have your shower, shave or any other ablutions.

Serve with cold milk and sugar or honey.

Now is the time to take the dog out or go for your morning walk.

Just like the three bears.

Feeling hungry after your walk or did you go to the gym.

Poached egg with smoked salmon on an English muffin.

Ingredients, well that’s easy. Eggs, smoked salmon and English muffins or whole meal bread.

Boil a kettle of water.

Warm the salmon in your small grill oven you are using to warm the plates. Warm an extra plate to use to drain the water off of the poached eggs.
You can put the cooked egg onto an old slice of bread. This drain off the cooking water. We don't want to make our muffin soggy.

When the water is boiled pour into you wok or frying pan with a little vinegar. You really can fry or poach eggs in a wok, especially in the round bottom type. Leaves your egg cooked perfectly round.

Bring back to boil, but not boiling too fiercely or it will break up the egg.

Put the muffins in for toasting.

When the water is boiling gently break the egg into the boiling water. Leave it to settle and the white to cook. When firm enough, using a spoon, spoon the boiling water over the egg yolk. Poach for as long as you need the egg to cook soft and runny or firm.

Put the warmed salmon onto a buttered muffin and the poached egg on top.

You could scramble the eggs or have a smoked salmon omelette.

I trust you remembered to make your coffee.

I hope you enjoyed your breakfast.

I’ll cover the scrambled egg and omelette another time

Let's think Healthy

The New Year is now 11 days old. How are the resolutions holding out? I suppose all the usual resolutions have been made. Stop smoking, lose weight, do more exercise, be a nicer person. Well I suppose someone besides Scrooge will make that one. Wonder if there any original resolutions left. Anyone thought of a new one.

I feel the word revolution would be more apt. That’s what I need, personnel revolution.

To help anyone and myself who need a “Personnel Revolution” I’ll be posting some healthy recipes I have used in the past.

I’ll even add a few fitness tips. I’m actually quite knowledgeable about fitness. It’s more do as I say not as I do though. I used to be an obsessive runner. I do mean obsessive. One training aim was to run 100 miles (120kms) a week. That was tough, eat, drink, run and sleep.

Here’s my first healthy filling recipe. This is meant to be a vegetarian dish but on occasions I would add chicken or prawns or even both.

If I add prawns I would either cook them in their shells.  Or take out of the shells and make a prawn stock by boiling the shells for about 5 minutes.

This works well for any dish you are making with prawns and need a stock.

CASHEW NUT PAELLA.

Ingredients.

2 tablespoons of oil, type of your choice, Olive oil probably best.

1 onion peeled and finely chopped

1 or 2 cloves of garlic crushed or chopped finely.

4oz (110g) long-grain brown rice. 

Of course you could get proper paella rice but Brown rice is probably better for you.

3oz (75g) cashew nut pieces. If you only have whole nuts wrap them in a cloth and bash’m with your rolling pin or saucepan. You can leave them whole.

½ to 1 tsp paprika, depends how spicy you like it.

10 or so fesh basil leaves, or

A tsp of dried basil

A red or green pepper, or both, de-seeded and cut into strips.

4-6 sticks of celery. Cut length ways then sliced into pieces.

1 pint boiling water, you may need to add a little more.

Glass or two of white wine, one to drink.

14oz tin of diced tomatoes (in juice)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper.

You can add other vegetables of your choice, such as tomatoes, leeks, courgettes, mushrooms or what ever takes your fancy.

For a garnish you can have black and green olives, slices of hard boiled egg, lemon wedges.

The Method

Heat the oil in your wok or large frying pan and fry the onions and garlic for a few minutes, till the garlic starts to brown and the onions start to become translucent. Add the rice along with the cashew nuts, paprika and dried basil and cook for a few minutes, turning the mixture over well so that the rice and nuts are slightly roasted. Add the celery and peppers and any other choice of vegetables. Mix in well.

Be careful how you time putting in other vegetables, some need less or more time to cook. It’s not a dish you want over cooked vegetables. Nothing worse than soggy broccoli.

Pour in the boiling water bring to the boil cook for a few minutes to absorb a little into the rice. Add the tomatoes and the wine simmered uncovered for 35-40 minutes.

If you used fresh basil, stir it in now.

Season to taste going easy on the salt.

The liquid level may need checking towards the end of the cooking, but most of the liquid should cooked away leaving a moist mixture with a rich tomatoey colour.

Serve and garnish to your liking. Happy eating.

You can serve with a green salad and fresh crusty bread.

I’m a real carnivore when it comes to eating but this dish will satisfy most dedicated carnivores

I was asked about using bacon fat

I was asked by a lady who has been reading this blog if it would be okay to use the fat left over from cooking bacon in a stir fry.

There's no reason why you can't use your bacon fat, for that matter fat that comes from roasting chicken, pork, beef or lamb.

I remember years ago my Mum used to pour all the fat (dripping as we called it) into the same bowl and use it for everyday frying. Now they would say that is bad for your health. My Mum will be 89 this year and smokes around 10 cigarettes a day. So it can't be that unhealthy.

                                   My Mum at 88

For us poor people bread'n dripping was a luxury. 

Oliver Twist would have asked for more.

Saying that I do keep any fat that comes from cooking separate from each other. Like the big chickens you get here in the USA, you get a lot of fat from them you could use for frying potatoes.

If I'm going to make a chicken curry, either Thai or Indian. I would get a whole chicken and cut the breast and legs from the carcass myself. I would boil up the carcass to make my own stock. I would cut off most of the chicken fat and put that into boil away as well. When it is cooled I would usually make two pots of chicken stock, these I would put in the freezer for later use. There would be quite a healthy layer of fat on the top.

The fat from roasting beef is great for your roast potatoes.

The same with the fat from lamb, though you do not get that much from lamb.

Pork fat I'd cook on the pork and eat with the meat, too tasty not to eat it.

Back to bacon fat. Unfortunately here in America, unless you find a store that sells English bacon, you only get the fatty, what we call streaky bacon. When you fry or grill this you get a lot of fat from the bacon. You can save this fat for frying something, like potatoes, especially for breakfast potato. 

You could have something really wicked, a fried slice of white bread, delicious with your breakfast. But don't tell your heart specialist I told you.

I also save the bacon from when I grill (broil). I do this buy having a piece of kitchen foil in the bottom of the grill tray to catch the fat from the bacon on the grill rack.

The foil also helps to keep your grill clean.

I'm not sure about using the bacon fat for a stir fry, though I do use it when cooking a fried rice from left overs but that is the fat from bacon going into the fried rice.

For a stir fry I use canola oil and sesame oil for extra flavour.

A really good Chinese cook website is www.chinghehuang.com Her videos are brilliant. If you read about her you'll see someone who made herself a millionaire from cooking. With no formal cooking teaching.