Hands up who likes Skirts!

I had some organic (probably even biodynamic) veal skirt in the trusty chest freezer (I’ve told you how much I love my chest freezer haven’t I?)  I’m not sure why I ordered it, not being familiar with cooking skirt, but I did; rolled up in neat little sausages.  The veal is raised with its mother, happy and free and weaned when least stress will be caused to both cow and calf... happy veal = guilt free veal... So I decided to try making veal involtini with it.

There were 2 strips in the packet which I quartered and then got all medieval on them by bashing them out with a meat mallet until they were thin and dimpled. They began to look suspiciously like what you buy at the butcher as a veal scaloppini for premium prices...

I lay across a piece of prosciutto, some basil from the garden, bocconcini and lots of pepper and salt, rolled them up and secured with a toothpick.  Then I seared them on a high heat quickly so they didn’t toughen up.  I don’t think I should have worried; they were mouth-wateringly tender and oozing with the cheese, yum.

I served with a salad of charred radicchio, pine nut, garlic & sour cherry balsamic vinegar dressing and some polenta chips with gorgonzola dipping sauce... true, it took me over an hour but better than sitting on my duff in front of the TV and it was all very delicious.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the Italians have probably been using veal skirt for this kind of thing all along and the tender thin cuts you buy at the butcher are a bit of a con (or at least skirt they have bashed out for you)...

Luscious Lamb

So lamb shanks – what’s the go there? Are they still considered a secondary cut?  I remember 10 years ago when I’d buy them as a cheap roast option for my wee girl and I - $2 each! And now? Now they’re the in thing, all these damn cooking shows showing the masses how to slow cook them to perfection and they’ve doubled in price.  And you only get 2 per lamb, who was the idiot who opened their big mouth and let the secret out?  It reminds me of selling shin for twice the price by calling it osso bucco... Of course the lamb shanks at feather and bone are of the superior sort, tiny and sweet so I got some...

Luckily I have a sensational slow cook recipe for them:

4 lamb shanks, frenched

1 carrot

1 stalk celery

1 leek (white part only)

1 onion

½ bulb garlic

2 star anise whole

1 sprig thyme

1 sprig rosemary

1 bay leaf

Wine

Very dark chicken stock

It’s very easy... Brown the shanks in a splash of olive oil, remove. Brown the roughly chopped vegies, spice and herbs, pour in some wine and reduce. Add back shanks and pour over stock to cover. Simmer 3 hours. Remove shanks (carefully or the meat will just flop off the bone) and strain sauce.  Reduce sauce on a fierce heat until it tastes about right then thicken with cornflour and water.  Serve with champ...

What is champ you say? Well, it’s the Northern Irish brand of mash with lots of butter, cream, salt and chopped shallots (the green long type, not the pink oniony type) stirred through – not for the dieters but food porn for everyone else.

These shanks are sensational – try it and prepare to weep in gratitude.  You know; I don’t really consider shanks a secondary cut either but thought I should throw it in anyway due to its inherent awesomeness...

Marvellous Marrow

So a bit about bone marrow... To be honest, even though I’m all for the ‘nose-to-tail’ eating theory, offal challenges me.  I want to like it, really I do but I still struggle. My wee girl likes marrow, she even has a marrow fork for extracting marrow from long thin places.  It grosses all my friends out and is a great party trick.

So at a dinner party recently I attempted Jason Atherton’s Dexter Beef 3 ways from the Great British Menu.  It was a huge hit. Dexter cheek, slow cooked; Dexter fillet served medium rare and a marrow crumble.  The marrow crumble was made with breadcrumbs, marrow, garlic and the like fried in olive oil.  I ordered the marrow along with my usual goodies from F&B and set about getting the stuff out of the bone.  I was hoping it would just slide on out as Grant said it would, but my first attempt was with a spoon, scooping it into a bowl of water.  It left me with what looked like blood porridge... gross. But I persevered, cooked it up and what do you know? It was sensational!! Did I mention the smoked potato puree on the side? That was awesome too .

I now have a bag of bones in my trusty chest freezer, all cut into handy 3 inch pieces. It cost me less than $5.

So on to my experiments. So far there have been two.  One piece I thawed and then pushed the marrow out of the bone (worked better this time, came out like a wee sausage) which I then sliced into rounds, crumbed, shallow fried  and served it on Dexter eye fillet (one of our rare prime cut nights).

As an aside, can I tell you how much more we enjoy prime cuts now they are the exception rather than the rule?

The second piece I used whilst making a stew.  I had a high tea to go to so I needed something I could throw in the oven that would be ready for when I got home in the evening – bless the slow cooked meal!  Chuck steak (probably the Dexter I keep banging on about) onions, garlic, red wine, star anise, porcini mushrooms and I threw in a marrow bone.  I’m sure there was some other stuff in there, just can’t remember now... the usual stew suspects. 

I put it in the oven low and slow and went off to enjoy an arvo with the girls.  When I came home and pulled it out of the oven there was a small panicking moment where I thought it had boiled dry but not so... I topped it up with water, pushed the marrow out and stirred it through.  OHMIGOD probably the best stew I have ever made... ever.  Really.  Ever.

It was actually a warm evening not truly suited to stew but I was unrepentant and plan to repeat this particular project many times over winter when the slow cooker comes out...

Get some marrow bones – they rock.

Sensational Sweet & Sour...

So I dug some gorgeous free range pork fillet out of the chest freezer (it was a prime cut night)... Decided to do an old school Sweet and Sour Pork...

Got this recipe out of a 20 year old cookbook of mine - Australian Brand Name Cookbook - recipe by Golden Circle (unbelievable but true)

500g free range pork fillet (they didn't say that, but I reckon it made the dish)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp dry sherry (I used sweet!)
1.5 tbsp plain flour
3 tsp corn flour
water
sufficient oil to fry

Sauce
1 red capsicum
1 green capsicum
1 stalk celery
1 onion
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp soy
1/2 tsp finely chopped fresh ginger
2 tbsp  brown sugar
1 tbsp brown malt vinegar
2 tbsp tomato sauce
450g can pineapple pieces
2 tsp cornflour blended with 1/2 cup pineapple liquid

Cut veges into 1.5 cm squares, heat oil and fry until softening.
mix together soy, ginger, sugar, vinegar, tomato sauce and add to veges, stir through pineapple pieces and the pineapple juice and cornflour. heat until thickened
keep warm
dice pork and toss well in soy sauce, sherry, flour and cornflour (I added a bit more water to make it slightly less thick)
fry in hot oil until golden and crisp (I was cooking prawn crackers in the oil, that's how I knew it was hot enough and then we got the prawn crackers too - yum)
re-heat sauce and stir through pork
serve with rice...

The boy was weeping with gratitude from this dish... then accused me of holding out on him... "we've been living together for 6 years and it's the first time I've had this????"

I reckon it was the pork that made it that sensational - try it free range people!

Who Knew?

Monday, 4th April 2011
We'll start with veal neck...

Here is the recipe provided by F&B:

This recipe for slow-roasted veal neck or shoulder. Mix up fresh rosemary, garlic, anchovies, salt, pepper and olive oil and marinate a 2 kg piece of Geebung organic or Tillabudgery biodynamic angus veal neck overnight in a covered dish. Cook slowly in the oven - covered - on 80c for about five or six hours then whack it in a hot bbq for 10 minutes. Rest for 30 minutes and prepare to ascend to heaven.

So I had a lunch to go to yesterday, Persian theme (due to it being Persian new year). So instead of the anchovies and rosemary I googled a spice rub from Bahrain (close enough!) and rubbed into the veal neck...

Bizar a' Shuwa spice rub
1 tblsp cardamom seeds ground
1 tblsp cumin seeds ground
1 tblsp coriander seeds ground
2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 cloves garlic crushed
3 tblsp vinegar
salt

mix together and rub over veal!  I then followed the cooking instructions provided by F&B (added a small glass of water when roasting)  it was AWESOME!! reduced the juices (after skimming the fat) with dried figs and apricots and served that as a sauce... everyone loved it and I was pretty chuffed considering it was a cut most people would turn their noses up at!  I will definitely be getting one again for next bbq I go to!

I have just ordered half a lamb for the chest freezer - I'll keep you posted on the experiments therein... I have this rolled lamb breast recipe from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall I've been meaning to try...