Braised Lamb Shanks with White Beans

This is a very tasty dish for people that understand it. What I mean by that is that it’s probably for foodies or people that have a very open mind towards food. This dish requires a lot of chopping but most of the time one is waiting for the time to go by as the shanks soften. Because of the time needed here I suggest you consider making it on a Sunday when the family is all visiting.

Cook Time: 3 hrs and 30 min.

Serve one lamb shank to each person.

 Ingredients:

Lamb shanks:

4 lamb shanks (about 1 lb each)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped coarse

1 medium carrot, chopped coarse

1 celery rib, chopped coarse

8 garlic cloves, chopped coarse

3 ½ cups full bodied red wine (one whole bottle)

4 cups chicken stock (or broth)

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 fresh thyme sprigs

 Gremolata:

3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves (flat Italian leaves preferred)

1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest (about 1 lemon)

3 garlic cloves, minced

Beans:

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 small onions, chopped fine

2 small carrots, chopped fine

2 celery ribs, chopped fine

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 cups cooked white beans

2 to 2 ½ cups chicken stock (or broth)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 bay leaf

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 tablespoon chopped tarragon leaves

 Directions:

Pat lamb shanks dry and season with salt and pepper. In an 8 quart heavy stock pot or flameproof casserole heat oil over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking and brown shanks in batches transferring to a plate as browned. To pot add onion, carrot, celery and garlic and sauté until onion is softened. Add wine and simmer mixture, stirring occasionally, until liquid is reduced to about 3 cups. Return lamb shanks to casserole and stir in stock, tomato paste, and thyme. Bring liquid to a boil and simmer, covered stirring and turning shanks occasionally for 1 ½ hours. Simmer mixture, uncovered, stirring occasionally for 1 more hour or until lamb shanks are fork tender.

Gremolata:  In a small bowl stir together gremolata ingredients and set aside.

Beans: While lamb is cooking – in a saucepan heat oil over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Add onions, carrots, celery and garlic stirring for 3 minutes or until softened. Add beans, 2 cups stock, butter and bay leaf and cook over moderate heat stirring occasionally and adding enough remaining broth to keep beans moist and to reacy a creamy consistency about 30 minutes. Discard bay leaf and add half of gremolata and salt and pepper to taste.

Transfer lamb shanks to a plate and keep warm – cover with foil. STRAIN braising liquid through a sieve into a saucepan discarding solids. Boil sauce, stirring occasionally until somewhat thickened. Pour sauce into a bowl, add the butter and tarragon and stir. You may want to add some salt and pepper to taste.

Spoon sauce over shanks and sprinkle shanks with remaining gremolata, Serve with beans.

For terrific olive oil and/or balsamic vineger:

 www.saporedellavita.com

Reduced Fat Sloppy Joes

You need a food processor for this dish. The idea here is to use less meat by substituting mushrooms and simmering the ground beef instead of frying it. Although it didn’t taste exactly the way I think sloppy joes taste it had a delicious slightly different flavor. I found this difference very agreeable. Considering the less fat in the dish makes this recipe a winner.

Serves 4

If the mixture becomes too dry during cooking, add water a tablespoon at a time to reach the desired consistency.

INGREDIENTS

2 teaspoons Olive Oil

6 ounces white mushrooms, sliced thin

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 small onion, minced

1( 8-ounce) can tomato sauce

¼ cup ketchup

1 ¼ teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon cider vinegar

¼ cup water

10 ounces 93 percent lean ground beef

Salt and pepper

4 hamburger buns

INSTRUCTIONS

 

•  1. Process Mushrooms Heat 1 teaspoon oil over medium-high heat in large nonstick skillet until shimmering. Add mushrooms and cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Transfer to food processor and pulse until mushrooms are finely ground.

 2. Make Sauce Heat remaining oil in empty skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Cook onion and processed mushrooms, covered, stirring occasionally, until tender, 8 to 12 minutes. Stir in chili powder and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add tomato sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire, sugar, vinegar, and water. Simmer over medium-low heat until vegetables are completely tender and sauce is slightly thickened, about 15 minutes.

3. Simmer Beef Add beef and simmer, breaking up meat with wooden spoon, until no longer pink, about 5 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper. Divide mixture among buns. Serve.

For Fabulo olive oil and balsmic vinetar:

 www.saporedellavita.com

Cod and Asparagus Pho

When making any dish you may have to re-organize what you will put into the recipe. I live in an area that isn’t very good for seafood. I don’t much like frozen crab or lobster and I wanted the crab. I visited two different markets and decided I’d select the cod since the price was reasonable.

I think Vietnamese Pho is a very healthy and great tasging most of the time. After my recent visit to Vietnam I visited a Vietnamese restaurant in Sugar Land, TX. I had good tasting pho there once before. This time it was the worst pho I’ve ever had.  I ordered a seafood pho and the seafood they had in there must have been in a soup pot all day because the small shrimp and scallops were like little erasers removed from a #2 pencil. 

This is the soup I made.

Ingredients: Serves 4 – 6

 

4 cups             Seafood stock

2 oz                 Fish sauce

1 tsp                sugar

½ tsp               salt

1 or 2 tblspn    vegetable oil

1 tblspn            shallot (chopped)

6 cloves           garlic (chopped)

1 tblspn            fresh ginger (thin julienne)

1 fillet ½ lb       Cod (or other fish of your choice) cut into 1 inch pieces

10 ea               asparagus cut into 2 inch pieces (fresh but canned ok)

1 tsp                fresh lime juice

1 ea                 egg (lightly beaten)

5 or 6               basil leaves, fresh lightly chopped

Handful           bean sprouts

2 ea                 green onion (scallion) thinly sliced

¼ tsp               freshly ground black pepper

 2 tblspn                        cornstarch

2 tblspn                        water

 

You need a stock pot or Dutch oven and a skillet.

Pour seafood stock into Dutch oven.  Add 1 tblspn of fish sauce, the sugar, and salt.

If you are using fresh asparagus add and bring to a boil and lower to a simmer

Meanwhile, heat oil in a frying pan. Add the shallots, garlic and ginger until aromatic – 2 minutes or less. Add the cod and 1 oz fish sauce and black pepper to taste

Stir fry over medium to high heat for one or two minutes until fish is done on both sides. Set aside.

Now, mix together cornstarch and water. Bring the soup back to a boil and add this cornstarch mixture stirring gently until thickened and is clear. While the soup is boiling, add the egg and stir gently. Yes, it will cook a little.

Add the cod mixture and cook gently until heated thoroughly.

Add bean sprouts and fresh basil.

Scoop into large bowls and add more basil if desired.

 

For fabulo olive oil and balsamic vinegar:

www.saporedellavita.com

 

Big Sur Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies

The holidays are over and I haven’t seen or consumed any sweets for a couple of weeks. I decided to make an old favorite of mine adapted from Maida Heatter.  This recipe will make two large plates of cookies.  So, be prepared to munch out or you might want to give one of the large plates to a friend.

1 ½ cups sifted all purpose flour

½ tspn salt

1 tspn baking soda

½ tspn cinnamon

6 ounces (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter (room temperature)

1 ½ tspns vanilla extract

1 tspn lemon juice

2/3 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs – large

¼ cup quick cooking rolled oats (not instant)

6 ounces (1 ½ cups) pecans or walnuts cut or broken into medium size pieces

6 ounces (1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips or morsels.

Preheat oven to 350F.  Make sure your oven has two racks one 1/3 from the bottom the other  a 1/3 from the top. Take two large heavy baking pans and put wax paper on them to fit the size of the pan.

Sift flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon together and set aside.

Cream the butter  in a mixing bowl until creamy. Add all the sugar and mix till smooth.  Add the vanilla and lemon juice and mix well.  Add the eggs one at a time.  On low speed add the sifted dry ingredients and then the rolled oats scraping the mixing bowl as needed with a rubber spatula.  Mix ingredients until just mixed.  Don’t overdo it.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and stir in the nuts and chocolate.

 I like using a small ice cream scoop so that the cookies come out of the oven in a similar size.  My baking sheets are large compared to consumer pans bought at a grocery store so consider the size of the cookie scoop your using. The cookies can become large in the baking process. I put three cookie scoops  on the sheet horizontally and then went down four rows.  So, I ended up with 12 scoops on each baking sheet.  If you are using small baking sheets I suggest you only put 9 scoops on them.  

You need to bake these cookies for around 13 – 16 minutes depending on the way your oven bakes.  My oven bakes hot so I didn’t quite need 16 minutes. I baked both cookie sheets for 8 minutes and opened the oven door. I turned both pans around front to back and changed racks too.  I did this quickly and closed the door.  I set the timer for another 5 minutes.  Once the timer sounded I looked and I could see there was a dark baked area around the bottom of the cookies and that means they are done.

 I removed the baking pans and put each of them on a rack. I allowed them to cool a for about 3 minutes and I took a spatula and removed the cookies to a plate.

 I love these cookies.  And, I did give one whole plate to a friend.

For fabulous olive oil or balsamic vineger:

www.saporedellavita.com

Sausage and Bean Stew – Italian

It was Sunday and that to me means a great day to orchestrate a meal the way the great Italian families like to do. To prepare an authentic Italian meal requires a lot of chopping and prep. I saw this recipe on Facebook from Great Chicago Italian Recipes. I just made a couple of minor changes to theirs.

Bravissimo.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound of hot or mild Italian sausage
• 2 Tblsp of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium red onion, sliced (or any medium onion)
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 2 carrot, peeled and diced
• 2 stalks of celery
• 1 medium zucchini, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 8oz can of tomato paste
• 1/2 cup of red wine. Today I’ve got 2 Buck Chuck cabernet sauvignon from Trader Joe’s.
• 1 28oz whole peeled tomatoes w/juice. Pour into side bowl, tear up tomatoes with hands
• 2 15oz cans of cannelloni beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup of beef broth or stock
• 1/2 tsp dry rosemary
• 6 fresh basil leafs, chopped
• 1 tsp of dried oregano

• 1/2 tsp of salt

• 1 tsp of fresh grated black pepper

• 1/4 cup of fresh flat leaf Italian parsley

  PREPARATION

  • In frying pan cook the sausage until they are browned on all sides. I used a grill pan.
  • Remove the sausage and drain on a paper towel.
  • Heat the olive oil in a large pot.
  • Sauté the onions, bell pepper, carrot, celery, zucchini and garlic until slightly tender.     around 3 minutes.
  • Stir in the tomato paste and cook for another 2 minutes.
  • Add the wine, tomatoes, cannelloni beans and beef broth.
  • Season with rosemary, basil, oregano, salt and pepper.
  • Turn the heat up and bring the mixture to a boil.

     Add salt and black pepper to taste.

  • Cut the sausage into 1 to 2 inch pieces and add to the bean mixture.
  • Lower the heat, cover and simmer for 1 hour.
  • Serve and garnish with parsley.

  Serves 4 to 6 people

  For excellent olive oil and balsamic vinegar:

  www.saporedellavita.com

 

Big pork chop with Thai peanut sauce

This is what we had for New Year’s Eve dinner. It was perfect and delicious. The Thai peanut sauce was a very nice accompaniement for the perfectly done chops. Yummy.

Thai Pork with Peanut Sauce

Prep Time: 10 Minutes

Cook Time: 22 Minutes plus 5 minutes to allow meat to rest.

Servings: 2

Ingredients

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon Creole seasoning

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 pork loin chops with bone, about 1 ½ inch

thick or about 1 lb each. Yes, big ones.

1/3 cup chicken broth

1/2 cup coconut milk

2 tablespoons peanut butter

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup chopped green onion

1/4 cup sliced red bell pepper

1/4 cup coarsely chopped dry roasted

peanuts

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 500F. In a bowl, combine the flour, cumin, Creole seasoning and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Stir to distribute the spices. Coat the pork chops with a little oil and  with the flour mixture, and shake off any excess.
2. Heat the oil in a large IRON skillet over medium-high heat. Place the pork chops in the hot skillet, and fry for about 7 minutes per side, until each side is browned and the sides are sealed. Put the iron skillet (no Teflon or plastic handles) into the preheated 500F oven for 8 minutes to finish.
3. While the pork chops cook, stir together the chicken broth, coconut milk, peanut butter, honey, ginger and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Remove the pork chops and carefully cover the skillet and chops loosely with aluminum foil allowing the juices to redistribute and finish cooking.
4. Pour the peanut sauce into separate and different skillet. Cook, stirring constantly for 2 minutes, or until thickened. Pour peanut sauce over the chops.
5. Garnish with green onion, bell pepper, peanuts and cilantro.
6. Serve with Rice.