Lamb Shanks Recipe

 This recipe will serve 4 adults. You can also use this for the wee munchkins (delete the wine) Its great the next day. Shred the meat off the bone and put into a pasta sauce,risotto,or couscous.

4 Frenched Lamb Shanks  (ask your butcher to do this for you)

Plain flour

Salt'n Pepper

Smoked Paprika

Olive oil

3 peeled and finely diced carrots

3 stalks celery finely diced

1 brown onion diced

4 garlic cloves diced

1 small red capsicum diced

1 large leek finely diced

1/2 litre red wine

2 litres chicken stock

2 800gms tinned crushed tomatoes

Fresh oregano,thyme.

3 bay leaves

Heat a heavy based saucepan with olive oil.

Dust your shanks in the flour, put shanks into the pan and add salt,pepper,paprika.

Seal the meat, try to get a nice caramel color on the shank.

Remove from shanks from pan, turn down heat. Might need a slash more olive oil.

Add all the diced vegetables and sweat this off till the onion is creamy and a wee bit colored.

Then deglaze the pan with red wine and cook off the alcohol for about 5 mins. Stir it through and let the vegetables soak the in the red wine.

Add the chicken stock and tomatoes. Then throw in your herbs and bay leaves.

Stir through.

If you are going to be using a slow cooker follow this step...put shanks into cooker and tip the vegetable sauce over them,put lid on and set to high and go shopping for the day!

If you are using the oven or the stovetop....put shanks into your saucepan of vegetable sauce, lid on and put into oven for 2-3 hours. Keep checking that the sauce has not evaporated too much during the cooking process.

Oven temp about 160. Stove top on simmer.

Shanks are ready when the meat is tender and almost falling off the bone.

Serve with  creamy mashed potato,buttery green beans and crunchy french bread. Dont forget to drink a rocking good glass of red wine with this meal.

This is a great dish to make the day before. Then all you need to do is reheat the shanks with some of the sauce.

Its Autumn.....Comfort Food

Well its finally here....the excuse to drag out the Sunbeam Slow Cooker. Actually you should never need an excuse to slow cook. Its a truly intoxicating way to create and eat for that matter.

So today I decided to cook my famous Lamb Shanks, when I owned my cafe this was the best seller by far. I will share with you my secrets.... watch the next blog for a recipe.

First I would like to tell you all about my crush I have on my slow cooker. This love affair started about 2 yrs ago when I was a few weeks off having my baby. It was in the middle of winter and my ankles looked liked I had been hiking in sub tropical jungles, I had to get off my feet and rest. My husband is great around the house but not the best in the gourmet chef department. His speciality is crumbed chicken....great but not so great after 4 nights in a row!!!  Bless him.

My girlfriend who has had 3 children and completely understanding of my chicken dilemma, gave me the best advice I had been given as an expectant mother " Honey, you gotta get yourself a slow cooker".

I am forever in her debt.

I was able to quickly prepare soups, curries, casseroles, puddings....all in the morning while my ankles looked liked supermodel material. Turn on the cooker and forget about it. 

My husband was relived of his cooking duties and we all ate the better for it.

During those first few months of motherhood when I was a frazzled,sore,sleep deprived human being I was still able to whip up a gourmet meal to treat ourselves at the end of a very, very long day. All it took was 20mins in the morning.

Now with a busy energetic toddler at my feet, I find my cooker even more my savior. I can cook a casserole for Jackman ( my son) and freeze this in portions. TIMESAVER!!!    and whip us big kids up a butter chicken curry or my famous lamb shanks.

So ladies...... make a life time investment and buy a slowcooker.

Chicken Drumsticks with Ranch Dressing

This is a favourite when I serve it up at party's.

Chicken Drumsticks

32 small chicken drumsticks. (get your butcher to french them...otherwise you will have to do this at home, cut of the wing tip and french around the thigh knuckle)

1 Tbs cracked pepper

1 tbs garlic salt

1 tbs onion powder

Olive oil for deep frying

1 cup tomato sauce

1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce

40g melted butter

1 tbs white sugar  (can use brown sugar for extra caramelising)

Tabasco sauce to taste.

Ranch dressing

1 cup whole egg mayonnaise

1 cup sour cream

1/3 cup lemon juice

1/3 cup chopped fresh chives

Salt & Pepper to taste.

1.  Combine pepper,garlic salt, onion powder in a extra large plastic freezer bag. Give a shake.

Add the chicken drummies and toss around in the bag till coated.

2.  Fill a heavy based  pan one third full of oil. The oil is ready when you drop a cube of bread into it and it turns golden brown in 15 secs.

Cook the chicken in batches for 2 mins each. Drain on paper towels. This is to seal the chicken not cook it through.

3. Transfer the chicken to a large non-metal bowl. Combine the sauces,butter,sugar and tabasco. Pour over the chicken and stir to coat. Refrigerate, covered for several hours or better if overnight.  

4.  Cook the chicken on a hot oiled lightly bbq grill or a grill pan on your stove top. Cook about 20mins, or until cooked through.

Turn and brush with the marinade during cooking.

5. Serve with the ranch dressing dipping sauce.

7. To make the dressing, mix together all the ingredients and season to taste with salt & pepper.

This is great party food for kids too. Just eliminate the tabasco sauce.

Dont forget to pass the napkins around. 

Hope this recipe is easy to follow.....I typed it out with a toddler on my lap eating a very messy peanut butter sandwich. Thank goodness for wet one wipes!

Functions are booked

Well business is taking off!   I now have three booked functions and one pending. Two 40th birthday party's and a weekend retreat for midwifes and guest speakers. I'm very excited about this.

My business cards and letterhead artwork is looking great. I will post this up on the blog when I get it back from the printers. A wee hiccup on the printing of the cards but it should be fixed in the next week. I have a meeting next week with a potential client who is getting married.

I do love a wedding... 

On the home front my wee angel Jackman is a trick, he is so funny and makes me laugh a lot. Today I introduced him to baked pretzels (not homemade but I'm working on it...)  I asked him if he was enjoying it and he turned around, looking up at me and replied " mmmm not bad"

I nearly fell over laughing much to his delight. He is only 21 mths old!!!

Tonight I made the best organic Roasted Chicken, the secret is to squish a stick of butter up between the skin on the breasts. I usually roll this stick in chopped garlic,thyme,oregano and lemon zest first. (about 100gm sticks) on each breast.

Then olive oil the chicken skin and smother in sweet paprika,salt and pepper. Usual rule of thumb is for every 500gms of raw chicken you need to cook for 30mins on 200 degrees. I don't make stuffing, I just put in the carcass, the lemon you used to zest, a few whole unpeeled garlic cloves and 1/2 brown onion.

Well tonight I have to print up my menu. Will post this on the blog soon. Better be prepared for the meeting on Monday. 

Remember to always live in the now and lick the bowl...

My new business

I have decided to set up a catering business from home. I feel this will enable me to pursue my two passions, being a stay at home mummy and making pies.

To give you the heads up on my background, I have been working in the kitchens of many a restaurant now for 10yrs...self taught. Started scrubbing pots into the wee hours of the mornings while watching the great masters at work weaving their magic on the stove tops.

This environment was intoxicating, the smells,heat,tension and the odd crying waitress all blended together in the mixing bowl of the kitchen was way too much for me, I had to get in their and weave some magic too.

I convinced my head chef at the time to give this woman a go. He did and to my surprise I swam and kept my head above water.

The screaming waiters, the buzz of the docket machine out of control with another saturday night of excited and impatient customer orders and a chef bleeding from an insane knife wound all added to the romance. I had been bitten and it felt good!!!

I worked my around most cuisines and decided that I might give it a go setting up my own cafe.

This proved to be a very good decision and I set up two cafes with my husband. He so patiently supported my crazy enthusiasm and was a great business partner. I know we can survive anything life throws us now.

I sold our cafes in January this year after operating for 6 yrs thinking I would retire and lay low for a wee while.

Well I just cant!  I need to cook, its my life!  

I also want to stay at home and enjoy every moment with my nearly 2 yr old son.

So the best option was to cater for parties in my local area. Its only in skeleton stages but I already have 3 functions booked.  Woo Hoo!  To be paid for ones passion is a true blessing.

The birth of "Poppyseed Catering" has begun.  My business cards are at the printers, menu design has started and I have had two official meetings with clients that have booked a function.

Ok this is the part where I scream.....aaarararararaggghhh.   trust me its an excited scream!

I love cocktail party's.... the excitement of preparing morsels of pop in your mouth explosions gets me all warm and fuzzy inside.

Its a bit like that great movie "Like Water For Chocolate"  when the woman prepares food with all her emotions and this magic is passed on to her guests. 

I have had strangers come to me in the kitchen of the house I'm presenting the food to give me a kiss! 

This is what I cook for...to pass on and pay it forward.

So on this blog I will endeavor to share with you some great cocktail food recipe's