Rioja Braised Lamb Shanks with Garlic and Chorizo

There's nothing like rich and indulgent comfort food in the winter. Especially when it involves very minimal effort. It may also surprise you to discover that I've never had a lamb shank! I originally though that they were excruciatingly expensive, but these shoulder shanks were very affordable and were bought from the Waitrose meat counter. A perfect treat for a weekend dinner. This recipes comes from Lorraine Pascale's Home Cooking Made Easy. 

Rioja Braised Lamb Shanks with Garlic and Chorizo

Serves 2

   Ingredients

• 2 lamb shanks
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• oil, for frying
• 350ml/12fl oz Rioja or 350ml/12fl oz good-quality beef stock
• 100ml/9fl oz balsamic vingear
• 1 garlic bulb, cut in half horizontally
• 2 bay leaves
• 1–2 tsp paprika
• handful black peppercorns
• 4 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 300ml/10fl oz beef stock
• 125g/4oz chorizo
• 1 large red onion, peeled and cut into wedges
• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped

    

Method

Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas 3

Season the lamb well with salt and pepper. Drizzle oil into a heavy-based pan set on a high heat.

Brown the lamb shanks all over and remove from the pan.

Add the wine and balsamic to the pan and boil for five minutes. Put the lamb shanks back into the pan along with the garlic, bay leaves, paprika, peppercorns, half the rosemary and the stock.

Once boiling, place the dish into the oven and cook for two hours. This can be elongated by turning the heat down if that's more convenient for your schedule.

Remove the dish from the oven and add the chorizo, onion, carrot and remaining rosemary, then return to the oven and cook for another hour. You want to make sure that the meat is tender and falling off the bone.

Remove the meat and vegetables with a slotted spoon and keep warm.

Place the pot onto a high heat and boil for 8-10 minutes, or until thickened slightly.

Serve the meat and vegetables with lashings of sauce and a side dish. I chose to do mashed carrot and swede, but you could use spring greens or creamy mashed potato.

French Classics: Cassoulet

I am very sorry France. I'm sorry because I'm going to attempt to cook a classic in my own style - Cassoulet. Everyone knows you don't mess with the original. Well that's boring. I want to do this Georgie-style. For anyone who doesn't know, a cassoulet is a dish mainly comprising of beans, toulouse sausage and duck. It originated in the south of France and is a slow cooked dish. In order to create my own (slightly budget) version, I researched a large variety of different cassoulet recipes and they all have their own method and use different ingredients. 

Georgie Porgie's Cassoulet

To Serve 2

Ingredients

6 Toulouse sausages (or sausages that include herbs, wine and garlic)

1 can Cannellini Beans

Fresh Parsley

1 White Onion, diced

1 Large Tomato, diced

1 500ml bottle of Dry Cider

1 handful of Bacon Lardons or Pancetta

1 tbsp Duck Fat

1 clove garlic

1 sprig of fresh Thyme

Method

Heat the duck fat in a large, heavy bottomed pan (a large Le Creuset style casserole dish would be ideal).

Add the sausages and bacon and cook until browned. Remove from the pan.

Add the onions and cook gently in the duck/sausage/bacon fat until lightly browned.

Add half of the cider and scrape any tasty residue off the bottom of the pan.

Add the beans, garlic, thyme and tomato and cook gently for ten minutes. 

Cut the sausages into bite size pieces and then add back to the pan with the bacon.

Chop a small amount of parsley and add this to the pan also. Season to taste.

Top up with cider until it just covers the ingredients. 

Place a lid on the dish and cook for half an hour.

Remove the lid and cook for another 15 minutes, letting the liquid reduce until you have a nice thick sauce. 

Chop some fresh parsley for garnish, spoon the cassoulet into a bowl and serve.

Venison with Fondant Potatoes, Chard and a Red Wine and Blackberry Jus.

This is a great, easy weekend dinner. Venison is a pricey meat but it's worth it for a once in a while treat. Perfect with a tangy, berry sauce, some fresh spring greens and potatoes. This sauce was created using freshly foraged blackberries from Richmond Park.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 2 Venison steaks
• 2 Large Desiree or King Edward Potatoes
• 250g Butter
• 1 Fresh Sprig of Thyme 
• 2 Cloves of Garlic
• 1 Shallot
• 400ml beef stock
• 200ml red wine
• 1 tsp redcurrant jelly 
• 50g blackberries
• 4 Stalks of Chard

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Add the red wine, half the beef stock, shallot, redcurrant jelly and blackberries into a pan. Reduce slowly until it's a luscious, thick sauce. Put to one side.

Peel your potatoes and cut the ends off. Cut in half width ways so they are flat ended tubes. 

Melt 150g butter with a splash of oil in a pan. When the pan is very hot, add your potatoes and brown the ends. This should take about 5-6 minutes. Add the thyme, garlic and the other half of the beef stock. Transfer the pan to the oven and cook for 15 minutes.

Melt the rest of the butter into a new pan. Make sure it's not too hot. Add your venison steaks and sear on either side. Cook the steaks on a low-medium heat for 12 minutes to achieve an medium/rare consistency. Keep coating the steaks in the melted butter to keep them moist. 

About 2 minutes before your steaks are cooked, cook your chard in boiling water for a few minutes. 

Plate the greens and potatoes, add the steak on top of your greens. Pour over your jus and enjoy.