Pink Ladies Shoulder (with Video)

Once again I am lucky enough to have some OldFarm Pork to use for this recipe. Its amazing meat, free range saddleback pigs that have a wonderful life in Tipperary and are lovingly cared for by Margaret and Alfie.
So my shoulder of pork deserved special treatment but not too much as to hide the sublime taste of the meat. I used some fresh rosemary and thyme from our garden and seasoned it with salt and pepper.
I also made a luxurious Pomme Puree a posh version of mash potato made with lots of butter. You can use less butter and salt by adding some warm milk to the processor to get the smooth velvet finish, but this is TheDevilsMenu.com so salt and butter it is for me 🙂
Pink Lady apples are one of my favourite apples, crisp and full of flavour. They compliment the rich pork wonderfully. The sauce is so easy to make you won’t bother with shop bought apple sauce again.
I love this dish, Roast pork carmelised on the outside, the wickedly indulgent ‘Pomme Puree’ and the Pink Lady apple sauce to die for. And after the amount of butter and salt I used making this you may just be saying “hello” to the Devil in person, tell him I said “hi”.
John
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Lamb Shanks in White Wine

Lamb Shanks in White Wine

This recipe was inspired by the Greek dish Kelftiko, a wonderfully tender lamb casserole.

There are many variations of this dish, some are cooked in paper to seal in the juices others are cooked as a stew or braised. Expensive versions use boned out shoulder or leg but the shanks with the bone left in produce a far better flavour and cost a lot less.

This is a sexed up version that requires a little bit of effort as I marinade the shanks for 24hrs before cooking to add that little extra flavour to the dish.

This will serve 6 people a very generous portion.

First to make the marinade:

1 bottle of semi sweet white wine (I used Liebfraumilch cheap and tasty)

250 ml of olive oil

8 slighty crushed juniper berries

8 black peppercorns

2 sprigs of fresh Rosemary

3 bay leaves

1 medium diced onion

5 cloves of garlic

a teaspoon of sweet paprika

a large pinch of sea salt

Mix all these together in a large bowl and add the Lamb Shanks (I had mine cracked by the butcher as its easier to work with them in finger length pieces) cover with cling film and put in the fridge or a cold area turning a couple of times during the 24hr marinading period.

The marinade will also be used for cooking the Lamb Shanks.

For cooking the Shanks you will need:

1 large onion in quartered

2 medium carrots cut into 3 pieces

2 sticks of celery cut into 3 pieces

4 whole cloves of garlic

1 pint of chicken stock

Put the vegetables into a large cooking pot/casserole with a touch of olive oil and slighty colour the onions.

After 24hrs take out the Shanks and dry them with kitchen roll and use a decent one like Bounty/Plenty as it won’t stick to the meat and come apart.Then brown off the pieces in olive oil (heat the pan up first and then add your oil heat that up then add the shanks this will ensure they brown) and add to the pot.

Now pour in the marinade and chicken stock and stir to mix (if the meat isn’t fully covered add a little bit of cold water till it does) put a lid on and bring to the boil once its boiling turn it down to a slow simmer and cover the top with tin foil and put the lid back on . Leave alone for 3 hours.

After 3hrs the meat should be ready to fall off the bone, remove the meat and leave to cool on a plate, bring the cooking liquid back to the boil and let it reduce by half (this means boiling the liquid so it will evaporate leaving a stronger flovour as it gets more concentrated) then strain through a colander to remove the solids and then through a  fine seive so your left with the begining of a beautiful sauce reduce this again by a third skimming off any fats from the top, taste and season with salt and pepper.

Finely dice a large carrot and a medium onion put the carrot into a small pan with a knob of butter and a drop of olive oil and season put on a medium heat with a lid on for about 5 minutes stirring occasionaly  add in the onions and soften then add to the sauce.

Take the cooled meat off of the bones with your fingers it will fall off in your hands (doing this means the meat will serve double the amount of people and it is far easier to eat) and chop it into smaller equal pieces season with salt and pepper and add back to the sauce.

The dish is ready  just warm and serve with Mash Potatos

Lamb Shanks in White Wine

Its a lot of work but so worth the effort.

Plus you get to use nearly every pan in the kitchen 🙂