Dish Of The Month

Gerard Lawlor From Mc Hugh's has provided our August recipe of the month

Roasted Lamb shank & cauliflower champ

Roasted lamb shank

Cooking time over 2 hours

Ingredients

4 lamb shanks, trimmed

1 carrot

1 onion

a few whole peppercorns

2-3 cloves of garlic

a bunch of fresh thyme

a small fresh bunch of rosemary

1 bottle of red wine

1 small jar redcurrant jelly

Method

  1. Place shanks in a casserole pot and add a peeled and halved carrot, a peeled and halved onion, a few whole peppercorns, herbs and two/three lightly smashed whole cloves of garlic.
  2. Pour over enough wine to cover the meat of the shanks- this is about a whole bottle and then leave overnight. This process will tenderise the meat.
  3. The next day, place the pot, covered with a lid in a preheated hot oven at 1600C/3250F/Gas 3 and cook for about two hours or more. If the simmering becomes too lively during cooking, reduce temperature slightly. The idea is to cook long and slow.
  4. Remove the pot from the oven but keep the oven hot. Remove the shanks from the cooking liquid and place in a roasting dish and spoon over a couple of ladles of the liquid to keep moist. Roast shanks in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour or until falling off the bone.
  5. Some of the cooking liquid will have reduced and it is perfect for gravy to serve with the shanks. Remove vegetables with a slotted spoon or strain liquid through a sieve.
  6. Heat the cooking liquid until boiling, let it reduce to about half its volume and then add a whole small jar of redcurrant jelly to it and let it melt down. The gravy will thicken nicely.

Cauliflower champ

Ingredients:

25g of butter

1 large cauliflower

300ml milk

Salt and Pepper

Squeeze of lemon juice

3 spring onions, thin sliced

  1. Melt the 25g of butter in a saucepan.
  2. Add the cauliflower florets and cook on a low heat until they soften, without colouring.
  3. Add the milk and simmer
  4. Re-cover &cook until it is a puree
  5. Transfer the florets (without the milk) to a liquidiser and blitz to a smooth puree adding any milk to soften if necessary.
  6. Season with salt, pepper and lemon juice.
  7. The spring onions can be quickly softened in butter and added to the puree just before serving so they don't discolour.

 

Dish Prepared By: Gerard Lawlor