Lamb Shanks

As I always say, time spent caring for your food is time well spent. 

I've been wanting to post this recipe for a long, long time. This is my favorite braised lamb shank recipe. To cook lamb shank it takes patience. Shank it's the lower part of the leg, from the knee down. As in any animal, the most-used muscles are the toughest ones, so the shank is one of the toughest cuts you can find on a lamb. With other cuts of lamb, you can grill them, you can roast them, you can make minced meat....etc. With shanks, you must cook them in a pot with some liquid for long time, otherwise you can not eat them. In this recipe, lamb shanks are slowly cooked in the oven with fresh herbs, garlic, red wine....etc. It has a fantastic flavor and the meat just falls off the bone. It's delicious when served with mashed potatoes. Please adjust seasonings to your own individual tastes. I sometimes add chili paste to the marinade. Hope you enjoy it as much as Primo Piano restaurant (Norway) clients do.

Here is the video recipe.

                   This video belongs to TV Vestfold, Norway http://www.tvvestfold.no/program.php?video_id=2317
Ingredients
4 lamb shanks

750ml (1 bottle) red wine (preferably Marsala)
1 liter fresh lamb stock or beef stock

2 large onions

3 cloves of garlic 

1 sprig of thyme 

1 sprig of rosemary 

2 bay leaves 

3 star anise

3-4 dry chilies - I use piri piri

green peppercorns

2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

140g shallots or onions 

150g carrots 

80g celery (1 stick)

100g bacon 

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp chopped herbs (thyme, rosemary..)

To serve: mashed potatoes and  pomegranate seeds 

Method

With a sharp knife, cut about 1 inch from the bottom (narrow end) of the shank bones down to the bone and all the way around; this will help expose the bone while cooking. Set aside. 

Place the lamb shanks in the bottom of a casserole (or any oven-proof dish) with a lid. Add the sliced onions on top . Pour the wine and stock over the lamb; add the garlic, thyme, rosemary bay leaves, star anise, chili and peppercorn.

Marinate in the refrigerator overnight. 

Cover and place in the preheated oven to 160 degrees C. Cook for 3 hours or until the lamb is soft. Cool the lamb shanks in the sauce.

Remove the lamb from the pot, sieve the liquid into another pan, discard the vegetables.

Peel the carrots, celery and shallots and chop them into small pieces.

Heat one tablespoon of oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and fry the bacon, carrots, onions, and celery until they begin to turn brown.

Add the stock and brown sugar to the pot, bring it to the boil and then turn down the heat to a gentle simmer until the liquid has reduced by three quarters and become thicker, to make the sauce.

Place the lamb back into the pot and gently reheat the lamb for about ten minutes.

Add the chopped herbs.

Here, we served it with mashed potatoes and pomegranate seeds.

Enjoy.

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Coconut, chocolate and goji berries ice cream (Bianca)

We had few warm and sunny days, which made me craving for ice cream. By the time I decided to make it (2 days ago), the weather showed me how unpredictable it can be. But it didn't stop my craving, so here is the recipe for ice cream without an ice cream machine! :)
Ingredients:
- 2 x 400 ml cans of coconut milk
- 120 g sugar
- 3 tbsp cacao
- 100 g dark chocolate
- seeds from 1 vanilla pod
- 100 g goji berries

Method:
Place all ingredients in a pot over a low heat and stir continuously until the chocolate has melted. I let it boil gently for about 15 min., and I kept stirring so it didn't stick on the bottom of the pan.
After I took it off from the heat, I transferred my batch in a separate bowl, added the goji berries and placed the bowl over a bath of cold water. Stirring it and changing the water few times, I got it to a fairly cold temperature. Now it could be stored in the freezer for at least 4 hours. Every 30 min or so I took it out and mix it with a hand mixer, so it didn't form ice crystals.

After 4 hours or so, I had my ice cream :)

Enjoy!

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Double the kinder surprise! (Bianca)

We celebrate Easter this coming Sunday and I remembered that I saw on this blog some while ago these awesome filled chocolate shells and it gave me the idea with the Kinder Eggs. Kids will love this sweet treat, I'm sure :) There is no baking involved, so you might as well get the kids help you making them.

Ingredients for 6 chocolate eggs:
For the filling
100 g cream cheese ( I used Philadelphia)
1 tbsp lemon juice
50 gr powder sugar
80 ml whipping cream
vanilla extract

For yolk
1 tbsp Cloudberry jam (or apricot jam or any yellowish nectar)
1 tbsp butter
I used a tiny bit of yellow food coloring, just to bust the color.

Method:
In a small saucepan heat on low the jam and butter, until the butter is melted. Set is aside to cool (when was cold I added a dash of yellow food coloring). Place it in the fridge.
Remove carefully the top the chocolate eggs, with a warmed knife (under warm water). It will pretty much give you a straight edge. But I didn't like that, so I broke off by hand some pieces to get some uneven parts, just like in a real boiled egg. The hardest part would be to get the surprise prize out of the shell, but with care, it's possible :)

Place the eggs in an egg carton, or your fridge egg holder and keep them in the fridge, while you prepare the filling.

With a hand mixer beat together cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice and vanilla essence for a couple of minutes.
In a separate bowl whip the cream until stiff and then gently fold it over the cream cheese mixture and combine until smooth.
You can fill the eggs with the mixture now, using a tea spoon or you can pipe it (then level the top to look more realistic) and place the yellow mixture for the yolk.

Keep it in the fridge for at least 30 min.

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Chocolate Fondant or Chocolate Lava Cake

How many of you are Chocolate fondant fans? I am a huge fan. So many recipes are so good that I just can’t stop eating it! This week I am going to share two of my favorite Chocolate Fondant recipes.
Fondant is a cup of cake which has been baked for just a few minutes, the middle part of the cake is liquid and it is served hot.
''Fondant or Lava cakes have four main ingredients: chocolate, butter, eggs and sugar. The butter and chocolate are melted together, while the eggs are either whisked with the sugar to form a thick paste, producing a denser finished product; or are separated so that the egg whites can be whipped into an egg foam to provide more lift (and thus a lighter cake) when the mixture is baked.''- wikipedia
This chocolate recipes are simple, delicious and timeless. It’s crazy good and super chocolatey and never lets me down. I made so many diferent styles and recipes in my life(with orange liqueur, with mint , with cofee....) but not all are easy and fast to do.....so today I chose to share with you the simplest and the most tastiers ones.
The first recipe comes from a friend of mine chef Victor Ovtchinikov and is very safe for restaurant. It will keep in a refrigerator for 2 days.
The second recipe is my own way to look to a clasic recipe......another way of interpretations.....a chef twist. 

Chocolate fondant.
Ingredients for 6-8 portions
For fondant:
240 g dark chocolate 70%
120 g butter 82%
4 eggs
60 g caster sugar
60 g flour
For the moulds:
50 g butter, melted or backing spray
To serve:
I serve it hot with ice cream and berries or with chili ice cream ( I love it) or margarita granita recipe here.
Method
Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl.
Whisk the eggs and sugar together until the mixture leaves a ribbon trail. Mix into the chocolate and butter mixture.
Add the flour and mix to combine.

Brush 8 ramekins with a little melted butter and then dust with the cacao powder. I bake the Fondant in suffle or pudding cups....or muffin cups.
Fill the moulds with the fondant mix and leave to set in the fridge for one hour.

Cook in the oven at 200°C for just eigth (8) minutes. Leave the fondants to rest for 1 minute, and then turn out and serve with ice cream.

White chocolate fondant with mango puree and popping candy.
Ingredients for 10 portions
For fondant:
140 g white chocolate with no sugar
130 g butter 82%
6 eggs
60 g caster sugar
60 g flour
60 g desiccated coconut
For the moulds:
50 g butter, melted
50 g desiccated coconut,
To serve:
mango puree and fresh fruits
popping candy
Method
Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl.
Whisk the eggs and sugar together. Mix into the chocolate and butter mixture.
Add the flour and desiccated coconut and leave to set in the fridge for one hour.
Brush the ramekins with a little melted butter and then dust with the desicated coconut.

Fill the mould with the fondant mix and leave to set in the fridge for one hour.
Cook in the oven to 200°C for just eigth (8) minutes. Leave the fondants to rest for 1 minute, and then turn out and serve over the mango puree, fresh fruits and popping candy on top.

Enjoy!

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