❤ Ola Foodies ❤

Ok, so I am actually two days late with this post, but we hit the road to franschoek yesterday which you can read about in my Oysters & Venison fun @ Haute Cabrière - Franschoek, Cape Town - South Africa post. It was a fabulous day out, but I unfortunately didn't have enough time, or energy lol to compile this post too... soooo nonetheless, here it is now.

The other day the weather turned quite miffy here in Cape Town, so I decided that it would be a good day to do a lamb shank! Traditionally, lamb shank is served with mashed potato - but as I don't really eat much potato anymore, I got into the habit of serving it with rice or cous cous as I kind of "over did" the cauli mash some time back - but it has been quite a long time since I have made that... So, in the spirit of a comments conversation I had with @rwedegis, I decided to do it with cauli mash.

#WhatsCookingChallenge - Lamb Shank with Cauli Mash

🍴

I absolutely love preparing ANYTHING in my sexy orange cast iron pot!
It has a magical way of making absolutely everything delicious! lol

anyhooo, enough about my pot lol... lets get to the lamb shank.

So first of all, I heated the pot and added a little olive oil,
just to braise the shanks.

Once the shanks were nicely sealed,
I removed them from the heat,
and put the pot one side to deal with the cauliflower.

I boiled the pot of water on the same plate
that I had just used for the shanks

Let the cauli boil until it is nice and soft,
which generally takes about 12-15 minutes.

Once the cauli is cooked,
remove it from the heat, drain it
and allow it stand for a little bit in a colander
so that it drains properly,
otherwise your mash will be very watery.

While that is busy cooling down and draining,
place your shanks back on to the heat.

And get all your other goodies ready...

I am pretty casual about what I throw into a shank pot,
haha - not unlike most of what I make.

On this occasion is was
Rosemary & chopped french chives,
Garlic,
Baby tomatoes,
A chopped onion,
about a litre of chicken stock,
and some baby carrots.

Throw this all into the pot.

Add about a cup of red wine
for delicious richness

oh and last but DEFINITELY not least,
lets not forget about my repeatedly used magic ingredient..
A nice healthy dollop of.. yes you guessed it @rwedegis...
CHUTNEY! haha!

Bring it to the boil for about 5 minutes,
and then lower the heat,
pop the lid back on so it can simmer slowly
and then leave it for a few hours on low.

The longer you leave it, the more tender your shanks.
So I normally cook it for about 2 -3 hours.

While that was taking care of itself,
I went back to finish the cauli mash,
which had now cooled and drained nicely.

I added a dollop of butter,
some potato spice,
a little salt and fine black pepper
and a little milk (as I forgot to buy cream) lol

I then used my hand blender to get it nice and creamy,
but if you do not have a blender,
the cauli really should be tender enough to use a traditional
potato masher or even a simple fork.

The end result is really deliciously creamy looking!

Once that was done,
I heated the oven to 250 degrees Celsius,
and while that was heating up,
I prepped the left over baby carrots for plating garnish.

So I coated them in a little olive oil, vegetable spice
and light sprinkling of sugar.

and popped them in the oven,
for literally 10 minutes...
just above middle level

until they are lovely and syrupy looking.

Once the shanks were finished cooking,
I removed them from the bot and brought the pot juices
to the boil again,
reducing and thickening it.

In this instance, I simply thickened it with a little flour and water,
but you can use whatever method works for you the best.

And that was it!

Everything was pretty much ready for serving!

I decided to break the rules again
(as I do haha)
and try something different with the plating aspect of things.

Instead of having the gravy on the plate with the shanks and mash,
I decided to serve the gravy in a side dish,
which you could pour over yourself.

To my mind, it just make the presentation
a lot more aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

And the meat was just
DELIGHTFULLY, FALL APART tender!
It was a SUPER plate of comfort food!

……

Until next time...
Much Love from Cape Town, South Africa xxx

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