#7: Twice-roasted lamb shanks with mint mash and carrots

This dish, I'll be honest, was a dual-effort. I love cooking with my husband - glass of wine in hand, sharing the details of our respective days. We don't do it as often as either of us would like: football practice, work and social commitments get in the way. But when we do get together in the kitchen, I relish it. 

This is a much simpler dish than the convoluted name implies. For people who work all day, the concept of slow cooked meat is a little abstract - it's just simply not possible! (Edit: as Annika points out below, it is possible with a slow cooker, but we've currently not got one of these.... maybe that needs to be an upcoming purchase) We got around this by roasting the lamb on a low heat for a number of hours on the Tuesday night before cooking it again on the Wednesday night - slow roasted meat on a working person's schedule.

serves 2


2 lamb shanks
1 onion
A few sprigs of rosemary
6 cloves garlic
Half a bottle of red wine
3-4 medium potatoes
4 carrots
Sprig of mint
Knob of butter

DAY ONE:

1. Slice onions into rings and place these, with the cloves of garlic, in the bottom of a heavy casserole or roasting dish (ideally with a lid, otherwise use foil).
2. Place the shanks on top, pour in half a bottle of wine, some large sprigs of rosemary, and some cracked pepper.
3. Roast on a low heat (around 100^oC) for three or four hours. Keep the meat, onion and gravy mix in the dish overnight.

DAY TWO:

1. Put the meat back in the oven at 150^oC for 1½ hours, then put the heat up to 180-200^oC for the final 30-40 minutes.
2. At this point, you should:
• put the potatoes on to boil - they should boil for 20-30 minutes, until a blunt knife slides into the flesh easily. For this meal, we didn't peel the potatoes first, making a mash with a bit of rustic appeal.
• put the carrots (similarly with the skins and tips still on) in the oven to roast for 30 minutes, doused in olive oil and plenty of black pepper.
3. Remove the meat from the oven and let it sit for a few minutes while you make the mash.
4. When the potatoes are ready, drain them and mash them with diced mint and butter. If the mash is dry, scoop some gravy from the meat dish in to moisten it.
5. Serve the meat up with the rosemary and the soft onion/gravy mix. Remove the carrots from the oven and serve them up with the mash.

I recommend this with a hearty red wine. We went for a Willoughby Park Cabernet Sauvignon, one of my favourite bottles from one of my favourite vineyards here in Western Australia.

#1: Honey, soy & ginger pork chops

I received Dinner, A Love Story from a friend for my birthday last year, and have been enjoying both the writing and the recipes over the past few months. This recipe was inspired by one from the book, bourbon pork chops, which I had tried and loved. I made my variant of these sticky pork chops for my book club group on our debut meeting.

I like to marinade my meat in the bag it comes in. It's not fancy, but it keeps all the juices together, so I can simply tip the contents into a deep pan, cook the meat in the marinade-and-juices mixture, and then serve the sauce/gravy with the meal. Pro tip: don't leave that bag anywhere within reach of your puppy, as you'll spend a good ten minutes chasing her while she dances happily around the garden with the meaty-bag dangling out of her mouth. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Photo courtesy of my friend Rachel

Serves 4

5 mins preparation, 2-4 hours marinading, 20 mins cooking

Ingredients:

4 pork chops

4 large tablespoons of honey

2 cloves garlic, crushed or minced

a generous dousing of soy sauce

Method:

Rub the honey and garlic into the chops, and place them in the marinading container. Pour plenty of soy sauce in, such that each chop is wet. Leave to marinade for 2 to 4 hours.

On the hob, put the meat and juices into a large, deep frying pan and cook, turning occasionally, on a low heat for twenty minutes or until cooked through (test with a skewer or sharp knife)

Serve with: 

Roast potatoes and salad.

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I suppose in many regards this blog was inspired by the narrative of Dinner, A Love Story. The 52 dishes challenge that I've set myself for 2014 is an attempt to get back in the kitchen. I've definitely neglected meal times over the past year or so, and my poor husband has carried most of the load with regards cooking. I know that cooking daily isn't a realistic goal for me at the moment, but whipping something up each week, and maybe trying something new now and then - that's definitely a challenge, but one I could possibly attain.

Thus '52 dishes', one each week of 2014 - I'm not promising anything spectacular, but I'll be blogging each one here.

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