Easter Lamb with a Sicilian Twist

We’re back! And we can’t believe it is already March, with Easter just a few short weeks away. This Easter, Carine is going to be heading to the wonderful island of Sicily so it was only right that this month’s recipe reflected that, albeit with a bit of a twist.

Sicilians take Easter very seriously. Not only is it a solemn and ritual-laden time, but it is also the beginning of Spring which means lots of lovely things to eat after the long, hard winter. In an area which has been invaded and inhabited by a great many peoples, Easter is a time when the leftovers of these cultures intersect, pagan rituals meeting Catholic processions. 

And the star of this week’s dish – Lamb – is common to both! The pagans would sacrifice a lamb to welcome the Spring, and before the flight from Egypt, Moses advised Jewish families also to sacrifice a lamb, smearing the blood over their doors and eating the meat with unleavened bread. But, as well as being symbolic, it is delicious and never more so than in this month’s mouth-watering dish – lamb shank osso bucco.

Although traditionally a Milanese dish made with veal shanks, Osso Bucco has become a favourite dish the world over and, like most of our favourite dishes, has been reinvented and reimagined many, many times. In this recipe we are substituting the veal with Easter lamb and serving it with delicious baked aubergines – so let’s get started!

Ingredients

(Serves 4)

4 Lamb shanks

sea salt and pepper

1 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped

2 tbsp all-purpose flour

1 tbsp olive oil

1/3 of Small glass of white balsamic vinegar

1 glass white vine

2 tins chopped tomatoes

2 tbsp tomato puree

Sunflower oil

1 vegetable stock cube.

For the soffrito

1 large Carrot

1 Celery Stalk

3 small onions

3 Garlic cloves

Zest of 1 lemon

3 Bay leaves

100ml Olive oil

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180C (Fan)/ Gas Mark4.
• Peel the carrot, onions, and garlic and finely chop, along with the celery, for your soffrito
• Add these to an ovenproof casserole dish along with the bay leaves, lemon zest, and olive oil.
• Pop this on the hob and fry for 20-30 minutes on a low to medium heat, stirring every 5 minutes or so to make sure it does not burn or stick
• Season both sides of your lamb shank with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper then lightly coat them in all-purpose, plain flour.
• Heat the sunflower oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat and, once hot, brown your lamb shanks all together until they reach a deep brown colour.
• Once all shanks are brown on both sides, remove from the pan and set aside.
• Add the tomato purée to your soffrito and cook for a further 10 minutes over a low-to medium heat.
• Add the vinegar, white wine, and stock cube and let it reduce for 5 minutes on a high heat. 
• Add your shanks to the pan, along with chopped rosemary, sea salt and pepper to taste and put the casserole dish, uncovered, into the oven for at least 2-3 hours.
• Be sure to check on your dish every 30-45 minutes, if it begins to run out of juice, add half a cup of water.

Once cooked, your Osso Bucco sauce should look a bit dry but the meat will be meltingly tender.

Baked Aubergines

Ingredients

3 aubergines

50g Parmesan

Handful flat-leaf parsley

1 large clove garlic

2 slices of wholemeal bread

100 ml Olive oil

1 medium glass water

Salt & Pepper to taste

Method

• Start by mixing the bread, parmesan, garlic and parsley in your food processor until you reach a crumbly texture, then set aside.
• Slice your aubergines into thick rounds.
• Then it is simply a case of layering the two up – one layer of aubergine, then olive oil, salt and pepper, then a sprinkling of the breadcrumbs.
• Repeat until you run out of aubergine.
• Add the water and top up with the remaining breadcrumb mix, keeping back just a little as a garnish.
• Bake for 30-45 min at 180C (Fan) or until cooked.

 

Serve with your Osso Bucco, the last sprinkle of your breadcrumbs and a dash of good finishing olive oil.

And speaking of good olive oil – that will be the tasty theme of Matango’s next supper club! Come try some of the finest, most fragrant olive oil you will ever taste and have a culinary trip to the Mediterranean, without ever leaving London. Tickets are available here. Keep your eyes out for more details soon!

What will you be having for Easter lunch? Get in touch on Twitter and let us know!

Winter Warming Pot Au Feu

Well, we promised you a delicious, hearty winter-warmer, so that’s exactly what you’re getting this week – it’s Pot au Feu! This classic French dish is a staple during the winter months and it’s got everything you might want on a cold January night after work. Literally translated as "pot on the fire", (doesn’t get much cosier than that, eh?!) this dish uses mostly winter vegetables and the best cuts of beef for stewing. It is one of Carine’s favourite classic slow-cooked stews - earthy; meaty and full of vegetables, served in a clear broth which is – and here we quote – “scrumptiously delicious”.

Sounds pretty good, huh? Let’s get started! This recipe serves 6 people, and can be a real showstopper, or you can simply keep it all for yourself and have it several days in a row!

Ingredients

• 1.5kg Beef (choose the best cuts for stewing – we recommend oxtail, cheeks, brisket or additional lean beef)
• Beef bones for deeper flavour (optional)
• 3 large carrots
• 2 sticks of celery
• 2 potatoes
• 2 turnips
• 2 medium leeks
• 1 onion
• 5 cloves
• 2 cloves of garlic
• Bouquet Garni (2 bay leaves, 5 fresh sprigs of thyme, parsley – traditionally tied together with cooking string, but this isn’t strictly necessary!)
• 1 beef or vegetable stock cube (optional)
• 10 black peppercorns
• Coarse sea salt (to taste)

Method

1) Tie your meat with cooking string to help it keep its shape while it cooks. If you can’t find cooking string, cut the meat into big chunks instead.

2) Peel the carrots, wash your leeks and celery, then cut all into large chunks.

3) Peel your onion and stud it with the cloves.

4) Place your meat, stock, and bones if you have them in a large pot and add 5 litres of cold water.

5) Bring to the boil and skim the broth regularly, removing the foam.

6) Once the mixture no longer forms a foam on the top, turn down the heat and add the rest of the ingredients.

7) Bring the mix back to the boil, cover it then let it simmer over a very low heat for a minimum of 4 hours (if you have a slow-cooker, you can use this, turning the setting to “Low”).

8) To serve, remove the meat and vegetables from the broth and place them on a plate, then ladle over a little broth. Carine serves her pot au feu with Dijon mustard or Dijon Mayonnaise, but we’ll leave your condiment choices up to you.

Bon appetite! We hope this warms your cockles. If you do have a go making this at home, get in touch on Twitter and let us know – we’d love to hear how you got on! 

Edible Christmas Gifts - Hot Chocolate Sticks

With just a week and a bit to go until Christmas, it is highly likely that, for some of you, present-based panic has set in. If you read our blog a few weeks ago, you may have got some lovely vanilla extract ready, but if you fancy something a little more traditional, we’ve got the perfect edible gift for you – Hot Chocolate sticks.

These delightful little sweet treats are perfect for the Christmas season – not only are they a delicious and thoughtful gift, they are also a wonderful warming treat to enjoy during a long cold January, post-Christmas.

This recipe can be done in one of two ways – one which can be made with normal bars of chocolate, which you can get from your local supermarket, but is best done with a blender, and one for which you don’t need a blender which is made with cacao butter and raw cocoa powder.

Recipe 1

Ingredients

• 50g Cocoa butter - 1kg is about £15
• 100g Raw cacao powder - 1kg is about £13 BUT you can make it with normal cocoa powder
• 1 can (normally 397g) Condensed milk
• Double cream
• Icing sugar, to sweeten, to taste

Method

• Weigh out all your ingredients
• Put your cocoa butter in a bain marie (a heatproof bowl over a pan of boiling water)
• Add the cocoa powder.
• Mix until smooth.
• Add the cream and continue to mix.
• Add the condensed milk and keep mixing.
• Taste, and add icing sugar if you want it to be sweeter.
• Coat the inside of your moulds with coconut oil or some other mild-tasting oil.
• Pour the mix into moulds and allow to cool in the fridge for 1 hour
• Then add the sticks.
• Allow to cool entirely in the fridge overnight.
• Remove from moulds, wrap in cellophane.

Top Tip – add some fun extras like spices - how about powdered cinnamon to make it Christmassy?! – or little marshmallows, like we've done below.

Recipe 2

Ingredients

• 600g of bar chocolate (dark, milk, or white) – you could do a mix
• 375g condensed milk
• 125ml Double Cream

Method

• Pour condensed milk and double cream into a pan, mix a bit then heat it GENTLY on medium heat until it starts to simmer
• Make sure it doesn’t stick – keep stirring it.
• Blitz up your chocolate in a blender or – if you don’t have a blender – just chop/bash it up as small as possible. You are aiming for a powder-like consistency if you can so it will melt as quickly as possible.
• Turn the temperature right down on your cream and condensed milk mixture.
• Pour your blitzed up chocolate into a heat-proof bowl and add in your cream and condensed milk mixture.
• Mix thoroughly, making sure there are no lumps.
• Pour into moulds – or into a normal deep baking tray, lined with greaseproof paper, to be cut into squares later.
• Pop your moulds or tray in the fridge for 3-4 hours.
• After 4 hours, pop in your sticks, then put back in the fridge overnight.

Top Tip – Use three different kinds of chocolate, split your cream and condensed mixture into three, and make different coloured layers, like we've done below – or you could make swirly patterns in it. It’s up to you!

To use either of these lovely chocolate sticks, all you need to do is heat up a cup of milk and swirl the stick through it for the perfect wintry hot chocolate. (Or, don’t bother with the sticks at all, and just enjoy it as a delicious, rich pudding!) Have fun!