There’s something to be said about lamb shanks.
Talk about your cheap but effective meal.
They are highly impressive at table.
They make the house smell like you are flat in the middle of Tuscany, or Morocco or France, depending on how you are preparing them.
This is one of Bittman’s best.
Your guests will think you’ve outdone yourself.
Which, of course, you have!
Lamb Shanks with Tomatoes and Olives
Adapted from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman
A couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil
4 lamb shanks, about a pound each
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 cups sliced red onion
A large spoonful garlic confit
A couple of sprigs fresh thyme
1/3 cup chicken stock
1 15 ounce can fire roasted diced tomatoes
1-½ cups assorted olives, pitted
Chopped fresh Italian parsley
Heat a couple of good swirls of extra virgin olive oil in large Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add lamb and brown on all sides, season as you cook. Remove lamb and add the onions. Cook over medium heat until soft and goldenish, about 10 minutes. Add garlic confit and thyme and cook one minute then add the chicken stock and the tomatoes and stir. Add the browned lamb shanks and turn them once or twice, season to taste, cover and turn heat to low.
Cook for 30 minutes, turn the shanks and add the olives. Cook for an hour until shanks are very tender. Meat falling off bone is good sign!
Garnish with the Italian parsley and serve.
Serves 4.
Can be adapted to slow cooker with great ease! Fabulous with smashed potatoes.
One Year Ago on Feeding Groom
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Lamb Shanks with Tomatoes and Olives
Monday, October 13, 2008
Sauteed Shrimp in a Citrusy Fennelly Tomato Sauce
So, this is what I did for dinner.
Nothing fancy. Just a fast shrimp saute thrown (literally ) into a fennelly, citrusy tomato sauce slung over angel hair.
Using up the stuff in the fridge so I can go get some more stuff and forget that I have it.
Then remembering and deciding to forge ahead, because extra virgin olive oil, garlic confit, San Marzano tomatoes will bring out the best in some rather past its prime fennel and a slightly sad looking Valencia orange.
It’s Monday night.
Sautéed Shrimp in a Citrusy Fennelly Tomato Sauce
1 fennel bulb, coarsely chopped
½ large Vidalia onion, coarsely chopped
1 heaping tbsp garlic confit
A couple of good swirls of extra virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
About a tbsp of fennel seeds
1 Valencia orange, zested, then cut in half
A splash of Pernod
1 28 ounce can of San Marzano tomatoes and their juices
16 large shrimp, peeled, tail left on
A couple of good swirls more of extra virgin olive oil
Fresh Italian parsley, a handful, chopped
Put a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Do a couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil. When it looks wavy add the fennel and onion and let it cook until soft, about five minutes. Add garlic confit and fennel seeds. Season with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Cook, stirring until garlic is blended in. Add tomatoes and their juice and raise the heat a bit to get a good bubbling going. Add the splash of Pernod, add the orange zest and squeeze one half of the orange over top and stir. Reduce heat to a good simmer and let cook for about twenty minutes.
Take a medium skillet and place over medium high heat and do a couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil. Throw in the shrimp, season with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper and squeeze the other half of the orange over the shrimp. These should cook really fast and turn pink. Remove from heat.
When you are ready to eat, add the shrimp to the tomato sauce and let bubble for about three minutes. Toss with chopped fresh Italian parsley and serve with angel hair pasta.
Serves three generously.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Pasta Med
Yet another quick, simple tomato sauce.
You can’t have too many of these sauces in your repertoire. This combination showcases capers, Kalamata olives, leeks, garlic and achieves greatness when combined with cavetelli on a Monday night while you watch Sliding Doors after a late afternoon walk in the park with Groom, Lucy and Lily.
Just another day in paradise.
Pasta Med
5 fat cloves garlic, minced
Hot red pepper flakes, 2 shakes
A couple of good swirls of extra virgin olive oil
A good splash dry vermouth
1 tbsp capers
½ cup Kalamata olives, pitted and coarsely chopped
¼ cup sun dried tomatoes in oil, coarsely chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
1 14 ounce can diced tomatoes and their juice
Cavetelli for two, cooked
Small handful chopped fresh Italian parsley
Heat a couple of good swirls of extra virgin olive oil over medium heat in large saute pan. Add leeks and cook til soft and a bit of brown on the edges and add the garlic and cook about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, vermouth, sun dried tomatoes, hot red pepper flakes, olives, capers and Italian parsley. Let cook til thick. Add hot cavetelli and a bit of pasta water if sauce is too thick for your taste.
Serves 2 generously.
This sauce is wondrous with large shrimp or grilled scallops added at the last minute.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Papardelle with Fire Roasted Tomatoes and Ricotta
Ricotta is one of the wonders of the world.
It can do a lot for a dish.
For a fast weeknight supper, try this pasta. It showcases ricotta and how it will melt in a dish and bring out the flavors of a favorite tomato sauce. Use egg noodles for this sauce. Papardelle or fettuccine work best.
Papardelle with Fire Roasted Tomatoes and Ricotta
Adapted from Trattoria by Patricia Wells
1 medium onion, peeled and thinly sliced
A couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil
A good sized pinch crushed red pepper flakes
Coarse salt to taste
A couple of sprigs of fresh parsley, rosemary, thyme, celery leaves and a bay leaf tied together with twine.
1 14 ounce can fire roasted crushed tomatoes
½ pound dried Papardelle egg noodles
5 ounces whole milk ricotta
Fresh Italian parsley, chopped
Put a couple of swirls extra virgin olive oil in a skillet large enough to hold the pasta and add the onions, crushed peppers, a good pinch of coarse salt and the herbs . Stir to coat with oil. Cook, uncovered over very low heat, stirring occasionally until the onions are caramelized…… takes about 20 minutes.
Add the crushed tomatoes, and simmer uncovered until it begins to thicken.
In large pot bring about 6 quarts water to boil. Add salt and pasta stirring so it doesn’t stick. Cook til tender. Drain thoroughly.
Add drained pasta to skillet. Toss. Add about ¾ of the ricotta and toss again and cover. Let rest off heat for a couple of minutes . Then add remaining ricotta and add chopped Italian parsley for garnish.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Smoke from a Distant Fire
You know, there are times that only one thing will do for dinner.
Only one kind of fish. Only one preparation of same. That happens with salmon around this house. It has to be Wild Sockeye Salmon. And it has to be Bobby Flay’s Sherry Vinegar Glazed Salmon with Fresh Tomato Relish and Arugula (my touch). It doesn’t matter who is here for dinner, it doesn’t matter if they hate salmon. They eat this and fall out. Seriously. Facial expressions change. Silence descends on the island (otherwise known as the dining room table because we don’t have one because Groom gave it away during the kitchen renovation, which is another story). Actually he gave away the sofa, the chairs, hutch, table and sideboard. The Sideboard. My claim to fame. I have danced on that sideboard so many times, I can’t tell you. I think I’ve gotten over it. But this subject may resurface in another blog post. Maybe not. Then again there are people who read this blog that can tell you things I can’t remember. But smile and say, “wasn’t that fun” when they bring it up.
Anyhoo…silence and then it’s “what the hell did you do to this salmon?"
Can’t lose with this recipe, people. Can’t lose at all. Plus the fact that ITUNES has one of the
(thanks Bobby!)
Spicy Tomato Relish:
2 medium ripe tomatoes, coarsely chopped
Small slice off side of red onion, finely diced
Fresh Italian parsley, chopped.. Eyeball it
Good shake or two of red pepper flakes
Big splash of red wine vinegar
Several good turns of extra virgin olive oil
Salmon:
1 cup good Sherry vinegar
Two big tablespoons Dijon Mustard
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp ancho chile powder
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
2-4 good sized fillets of wild Sockeye salmon, skin on
Put the Sherry vinegar in small saucepan and reduce it down to about a quarter cup. In small bowl, put honey, mustard, vinegar chile powder, salt and pepper and whisk together. When cool, pour over salmon fillets.
Combine all ingredients for the tomato relish and let sit for about half an hour.
Get the grill going and cook till skin on salmon is crisp; don’t turn and salmon is firm to touch. You can heat a cast iron pan with a bit of oil in it and do the same thing. People have their own way they like to do salmon or any fish, so when it’s done for you, rock on.
Put a “paw full“, my mother’s expression, of Arugula on your dinner plate. Top with salmon and the tomato relish. Remember one of your favorite songs and light a candle with dinner. Enjoy!
