Humble Chef's On The Lamb

Yikes. Has it been a week since my last recipe? I'll keep them coming as much as I can. I realize some of these recipes are not for everyone so I'll keep the volume up to expand the variety. Most of what I've given have been fairly simple one-pot syle meals. Here's one that involves a little preperation but great pay off. It is one I'm planning for an upcoming dinner party so this is a good way to refresh myself. Also, if the guests enjoy the dinner, there is access to the recipe for them to make and enjoy.

Braising is simple yet time consuming technique. Braising refers to "cooking in liquid" for an extended amount of time. The idea behind braising is to take a tough, usually inexpensive cut of beef or poultry and slowly cook it to make the meat tender. Cooking is often a trade off; you can purchase expensive cuts of meat(steaks, chicken breasts, rack of lamb, salmon) that cook quickly, easily and make them taste pretty good. On the flip side, braising requires patience and planning but are usually pretty easy on the wallet.

This is not a new recipe. This is a classic, home style french cuisine. Yet can be flipped to something unique to you by adding little things you have at home. You can buy frozen lamb shanks at most major grocers, but fresh can be purchased at local butchers.

Braised Lamb Shanks

6 Lamb Shanks, dredge in flour
1 Carrot, roughly cut in cubes
1 Large White Onion, large dice
4 Stalk of Celery, large dice
2 Bay leaves
2 l stock (beef, chicken, veg, lamb, whatever)
500 ml Red Wine
10 g Seasoned Flour for Dredging
2 Sprigs of Rosemary, Thyme
50 ml maple syrup
15 ml vegetable oil
Salt and Peppet to Taste

Preheat oven at 375 Celsius.

In a large soup pot, on medium-high heat, preheat vegetable oil. Sear all sides of lamb and remove from pot. Reduce heat and throw in mirepoix (onion, carrot, celery, bay leaves) and cook until bottom of pan is golden brown. Add a little oil if needed. Deglaze the pan with red wine. Reduce by half. Add stock and lamb shanks. Stir pot until it comes to boil. Remove from heat. Add fresh herbs. Cover with a lid and place in the oven.

Cook for approximately 2 hours occasionally removing from oven and stirring.

To check for doneness, half the lamb should be a clean bone. Tear a piece of the lamb and it should tender and juicy. When braised through remove shanks and cover to keep hot. Strain the stock and discard leftover vegetables and herb sprigs. On the stove top, bring to a boil. The stock should coat the back of a spoon. Season with salt, pepper and maple syrup.

Serve shanks with jus, mashed potatoes and freshly steamed green vegetables.

Serves 5.

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Apple Glazed Braised Cabbage

Like the Maple Glazed Carrots, here is a recipe that entitles you to add anything you like. It is a variation of a recipe I learned from school that is a good recipe for any novice or prefessional to practice. It is cheap, tasty and easy. And it also allows you to practice your braising abilities.

Apple Glazed Braised Cabbage
1 Small Red Cabbage, fine jullienne
2 Granny Smith Apples, grated
1 Small Red Onion, fine brunoise (dice)
250 ml apple juice or cider
50 ml Maple Syrup
Dab of Butter for saute
1 Sprig Fresh Mint, chiffonade
1 Lemon, juiced
Salt and Pepper To Taste

Preheat oven at 350 Celsius. On medium heat in a soup pot, melt butter until frothy. Add onion until translucent. Add apple until slightly brown. Add cabbage and cook for about 2 minutes. The cabbage should deflate as you cook. Deglaze with juice and maple syrup. Bring to boil and cover. Place in oven and cook for 1 hour. Remove from oven and taste, the cabbage should be sweet and tender. Add lemon, mint and seasoning. On stove top, bring to boil and serve.

Serves 8.

Variations are plentiful once again. Whatever you think goes with apples might just work. You can omit mint and add sage and bacon, or remove maple syrup and use rum or you can add leek and raisins.

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Made With Real Cocoa

So, you've tried my "Hunter-Style" braised chicken and you're ready for the next stage. Right? Yeah. So I like to think. Should I bother posting a Coq au Vin recipe that nobody will ever make? Well of course I should.

What's funny to me is how easy this dish is to make and the reluctance to make it. First you need to ask yourself one question? No, not "Do I feel lucky?" How about "Do I feel nervous about searing some chicken, adding some basic vegetables, adding wine and stock and slowly braising it"? If the answer is a "I dunno" or "What's braising?", well, then perhaps trying that french restaurant downtown might be next on your to-do list. Or maybe just getting the 14 pc. bucket of chicken instead.

It is a tasty little dish that can be made in advance and kept warm until you serve. The alcohol evaporates leaving you with the flavour of the wine so you can serve it to your kids or your pregnant sister-in-law.

There are no tricks. No secrets. No nifty techniques. You won't even need your crock pot that you never use. Just trust me.

Coq au Vin
2 Chicken Thighs
2 Chicken Drumsticks
2 Chicken Breasts, cut in half
2 Cloves of Garlic, crushed
1 White Onion, finely diced
250 g Mushrooms, sliced
200 ml Chicken Stock
50 g All Purpose Flour
400 ml Red Wine (not white! unless that's all you got)
2 Sprigs of Fresh Thyme, chopped
A Few Whole Black Peppercorns
2 Bay Leaves
50g Butter

Preheat oven at 350 degrees.

In a wide pot, on medium high heat, brown chicken in a bit of oil. Remove chicken and set aside. Add a little butter and add mushrooms, onion and garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Add flour and cook for one minute. Add chicken stock, bay leaves, peppercorns and wine and bring to a boil. Add chicken and cover.

Place pot into oven and cook for 30 - 40 minutes. Remove from oven, add thyme and remainder of the butter.

Reduce sauce for 10 minutes on stove top and serve.

Serves 4.


Variations: Classically, this dish might have been made with bacon (my God, bacon again) and pearl onions. Well, if you feel decadent this weekend then be my guest.

Chef's Common Sense Tip: Make sure the handle of your pot is not plastic and make sure it can withstand the heat of the oven. Sounds silly but I've had people ask me.

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Why Did The Chicken Cross the Road? To Catch A Tory

By popular demand, I have been asked to post a recipe that requires little time to prep and can be cooked in a slow cooker (or crock pot or whatever you call it). When I say "popular demand", I mean my sister-in-law who is a mother and likes to cook simple meals that has no dairy and can be enjoyed by her kids.

This is a "Hunter Style" recipe for the people who love their hearty comfort food. There are numerous ways to cook Chicken Chasseur (or Cacciatore) and it frequently involves what's left in the fridge or whatever herbs are grown in the backyard.

There are a few things that are required of course, and the technique is usually the same, but if you prefer shallots over red onion, yellow peppers over red, or cremini mushrooms over button, go ahead and use up whatever you have in the fridge.

You can use chicken legs or breasts, whatever you prefer. Personally, I prefer both so I typically purchase whole chickens and portion it myself and make a stock with the carcass and the trimmings from the vegetables. If you are like my wife and abhor the idea of touching dead, lifeless poultry, purchase just breasts and legs and you will ready to go.

"Hunter-Style" Braised Chicken

1 Whole Chicken, 1 kg, portioned into 8 or 2 Chicken Breats and 2 Chicken Thighs and 2 Drumsticks
1 Large Red Onion, finely diced
2 Cloves of Garlic, chopped
100 g Mushrooms, thinly sliced
150 ml Wine, red or white
125 g tomatoes, canned and crushed
200 ml chicken or vegetable stock
1 Red Pepper, medium diced
1 Green Zucchini, medium diced
2 Sprigs of Fresh Basil, thinly chiffonade
1 Sprig of Oregano, finely chopped
1 Sprig of Parsley, finely chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste

Season chickens with salt and pepper.

On medium high heat, brown all sides of the chicken portions. Remove from heat. Add a little oil and saute onion, pepper, mushroom for 1 minute. Add zucchini and garlic and cook for one minute. Deglaze with wine and reduce by half. Add crushed tomatoes and stock. Add salt and pepper.

Add chickens to pot and cover. If you are using a crock pot, use same method and cook for 45 minutes on low heat. If you are cooking in a stock pot, place into a preheated oven at 300 degrees and cook for half an hour.

Add fresh herbs and stir well. Adjust to seasonings. If the sauce is too thin, remove chicken and keep hot. Reduce the sauce on high heat until desired thickness.

Serves 4.

Variation: You can go nuts on this one. Serve this with pasta and it Chicken Cacciatore, serve it with rice, add some cream and it's Chicken Hongroise, omit the herbs and use paprika and sour cream and you have Chicken Paprika. Or go nuts and add some bacon, use red wine only and use up the pearl onions you've in your cupboard for the past year and wow your friends and family with Coq au Vin. Pretty easy and impressive stuff.

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Honey, What's an Eleven Letter Word For Vegetable Stew?

Some things are a classic for a reason: Creme Brulee, Caesar Salad, Carrot-Ginger Soup (Potage Crecy), Coquille-St.-Jacques to barely scratch the surface. Old recipes continue to enthrall taste buds because they are often so simple, so easy, so practical. For the professional kitchen, some staples continue to be staples because they are either in demand, or cheap to make, or able to utilize leftovers or all the above. Minestrone soup for example utilizes leftover pasta, leftover cooked beans, a few vegetables and some watered down tomato sauce. Make a batch for nothing and all of a sudden you're making dollars from pennies.

I really enjoy making Ratatouille because it is so simple, so cheap and so delicious (not because there's a Pixar Film with the same title). What makes Ratatouille so easy is that it is braised (remember that word?) in it's own juices rather than having a liquid added to it. Some cooks may call this a Confit: something that is cooked in it's own juices. However, strictly speaking, a Confit is something that is cooked with either acid (for vegetables), alcohol and sugar (for fruit, like a Confiture) or fat (for poultry, especially duck).

Not that this is vital information, but knowing the technique is useful and knowing allows you to build on your gastronomic repertoire. My style of cooking is simple: taking classical cuisine and throwing a modern twist to make it fresh. Rustic elegance.

Ratatouille

1 Green Zucchini, innards removed, cut in small cubes
1 Yellow Zucchini, innards removed, cut into small cubes
Half an Eggplant, cut into small cubes
1 Large Red Onion, fine dice
1 Red Bell Pepper, small cubes
1 Green Bell Pepper, small cubes
2 Cloves of Garlic
3 Tomatoes, roughly cut
1 Bunch of Basil, chiffonade
1 Bunch of Thyme, finely chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste

In a large stock style pot, on medium heat, sweat onions in some olive oil. Add peppers and garlic; cook until vibrant. Add eggplant and zucchinis and stir until they decrease in size by one third. Add tomatoes and cover, stirring occasionally. Let cook for approximately 15 minutes. Add herbs and seasonings. Keep on low heat, covered until served.

Serves 6.

A Humble Chef's tip: Try soaking the cubed eggplant in a salt water solution for about 10 minutes before cooking. When draining, notice how dark the water is. The salt removes the bitter flavour and prevents the eggplant from going black.

Variation: If you have time, you can use the Ratatouille as a filling in Phyllo or Puff Pastry. Roll out the dough and drain the vegetables. Wrap it up and bake to directions. The leftover liquid can be reduced and thickened with a syrup or a puree of some sort and used as a sauce for the strudel.

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