Lamb Shank Lovin'

Tis' the season of sickness, colds, lemsips and Lamb Shanks! Most people I know hate the winter, I quite like the cosy feeling of being rugged up inside in front of the Netflix on the couch, although I hate all the illness that comes along with it.

One thing I love about winter is all the hearty dishes we can enjoy and one of my favourites are lamb shanks.

I have been meaning to post this recipe for years! You know for some dishes you have just one special recipe you go to, well for lamb shanks, this is mine. It has the perfect balance of deep, rich, lamb flavours, paired with just the right amount of sweetness and texture.

I served these alongside some dauphinoise potatoes, peas and heirloom carrots and that beautiful lamb jus. I also sprinkled some tiny crispy potatoes with parsley on top. Such a winner! Yummo! Do you have a favourite lamb shank recipe?

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Lamb Shanks

by Master Chefette May-23-2015

The only recipe I will use for lamb shanks, beautifully rich tender meat with a deletable sauce to match.

Ingredients

• 4 Lamb Shanks
• 1 cup Plain Flour
• 1 large Onion (diced)
• 2 cloves Garlic
• 2 cups Beef Stock
• 3/4 cup Red Wine
• 1/3 cup Maple Syrup (not maple flavoured syrup)
• 1 Carrot
• 1 Celery Stick
• 3 Tomatoes

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.2. Place flour in a dish and season with salt and pepper. Coat each lamb shank in flour.3. Shallow fry the coated lamb shanks in olive oil to seal the meat until golden brown.4. Transfer the shanks to a deep dish roasting pan or slow cooker.5. Using the pan you have just browned the shanks in, add the onion and garlic and fry until soft. Add the red wine, stock and maple syrup and allow to simmer for around 5 minutes.6. Pour sauce over the shanks and add the celery, carrot and tomato wedges (for extra flavouring) and place in the oven for 2-3 hours.7. Turn shanks over to allow both sides to brown.8. Once ready, strain sauce through a sieve and discard the celery, onion, carrot and tomato.9. Serve with mash, veggies or anything that takes your fancy and drizzle that delicious sauce over the top. (Naughty but nice: soak up all that sauce with a lovely crusty bread)* For slow cookers, all steps can be followed and lamb can be cooked on low for around 6 hours. If you like your shanks browned, you can always pop them under the grill before serving.*

Details

Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: 3 hour Total time: 3 hour 20 mins Yield: 4

Sugo Al Ragu - Slow Cooked Oxtail Ragu Pasta Sauce

Ragu seems to be the 'flavour of the month' so to speak. It's all over Masterchef, My Kitchen Rules and what all the celebrity chefs are talking about. As an Italian (Sicilian) we never actually called this simple pasta sauce a ragu, to us as the children, the Aussiefied version was just chunky meat sauce. We had this discussion around the dinner table not too long ago about all the trendy terminology that has been picked up and is now in everyday vernacular. If I had a dollar for everytime my Nonna said that a 'latte' literally translates into milk and how absurd it would be to order a large milk from Gloria Jeans, I'd be a rich lady! So is similar with ragu... "what's this ragu?" she says, you would have never seen that on a menu 30 years ago. Well I'm certainly glad things have changed and we are seeing this delightful dish more and more.

This particular dish brings me back to some of my earliest memories. My Dad has always taken great pleasure in watching the infants in our family suck on a big juicy bone (like a puppy) and get a lovely big sauce moustache after having pasta with sugo al ragu.

Like a lot of Italian cooking, it's very hard to place quantities on ingredients and such, since Italians are BAD with recipes, everything is by look and feel, which is kind of beautiful too. Although this forever means that nothing is ever as good as Nonna's!

With this recipe anything goes really, so if you have pork use that, if you have lamb use that, spice it up and use a combo if that's what takes your fancy, whatever your taste buds desire will be perfect!

Watch the tutorial...

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Sugo Al Ragu - Slow Cooked Oxtail Ragu Pasta Sauce

by Dee @ Master Chefette April-29-2015

A delcious, full-bodied, melt in the mouth pasta sauce. Perfect comfort food!

Ingredients

• 2kg Oxtail
• 1 Diced Onion
• 2 cloves Garlic
• 1/2 cup Red Wine
• 400g tin Diced Tomatoes
• 2 x 700g bottles Passata
• 2+ litres Water
• 2 Bay Leaf
• 1 stick Celery
• 1 Carrot
• 500g Tomato Paste
• Salt, Pepper, Herb Seasoning
• 1 tblsp Sugar
• 1 knob Butter
• Dash Milk

Instructions

1. Heat a large pot on the stove covering base with olive oil. Once warm add onion and garlic.2. Add oxtail or preferable meat to the pot and seal until lightly caramelised.3. Add in red wine.4. Add passata, tomato paste and diced tomatoes to the pot followed by the water. At this point the sauce should be quite thin and liquidy (see video).5. Throw in celery stick, whole carrot, bay leaves and seasoning followed by milk, butter and sugar.6. Allow sauce to simmer on a medium heat for 3-4 hours stirring constantly. Keep tasting to see whether more seasoning or water is needed.7. Nonna says when you start to see the dark oil on top of the sauce, it's ready. So once ready, serve on top of your favourite pasta.

Details

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 3 hour Total time: 3 hour 15 mins Yield:

Classic Red Velvet Cake with Marscapone & Cream Cheese Frosting

Red Velvet Cake is one of those deliciously rich and luscious "special cakes" that people will seldom attempt at home. The Red Velvet cake is thought to have originated at the famous Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York where it was coined "Waldorf Astoria Cake" funnily enough, but many consider the cake to be a treat from the south. I hadn't made this cake in ages, but recently made it over the Easter weekend for some friends. The Cake was tasted by my friend Whitney who is actually from the south, who gave it the big southern thumbs up of approval. Check out Whit's foodie blog over at Whit's Critiques. Red Velvet is not a cake you should be scared of making at home, it is super easy and super tasty, especially with that delectable Marscapone and Cream Cheese frosting. This cake has more of a rustic look to it since the frosting is much lighter than a regular buttercream, but oh so delicious!

Red Velvet Cake

2 ½ cups self raising flour

2 ½ tablespoons cocoa powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups caster sugar

2 eggs

120 grams salted butter

1½  teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon bi-carb soda

2 tablespoons (or more) of pillar box red food colouring

Frosting:

250 grams cream cheese (room temperature)

230  grams mascarpone cheese (room temperature)

1 ½ cups double cream

1 cup icing sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 175° Celsius.

2. Line two 9 inch cake tins with baking paper and spray lightly.

3. Sift the flour, salt, and cocoa powder into a bowl and set aside.

4. In an electric mixer cream the butter and sugar.

5. Add the eggs one by one whilst the mixer is still on.

6. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

7. In a measuring jug whisk buttermilk and food colouring until combined.

8. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the dry mixture and wet buttermilk mixture to the electric mixing bowl, a small amount at a time until combined. Once combined turn off the electric mixer.

9. Combine the vinegar and bi-carb soda in a cup, once combined and fizzy, fold into the cake mixture with a spatula.

10. Divide cake batter evenly between the two or more cake tins and smooth the tops with a spatula (I used three tins)

11. Bake in oven for approximately 25 - 30 minutes or until cake springs back or skewer comes out clean once inserted into the center.

12. Allow to cool on racks and then wrap each cake in glad-wrap and refrigerate cake and frosting overnight or for a few hours.

13. After refrigeration sandwich cakes together with a layer of frosting in between each, I also shaved some of the cake off the tops to make it flatter and more importantly for crumbling on top.

14. Serve and enjoy!

Frosting

1. In an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and mascarpone cheese until smooth.

2. Add the vanilla and icing sugar and beat until smooth.

3. Gradually add double cream and whip until the frosting smooth and thick.

4. Add more cream or sugar according to taste and consistency (note: frosting will thicken slightly, overnight in fridge)