When I get around to better organizing my recipes this one will be filed under “chic comfort food”. As perfect for a fancy winter dinner party as it is eaten on the sofa while wearing sweat pants and watching tv. I serve it with a big dollop of soft, garlicky polenta for ultimate warmth, but good bread, ricotta gnocchi or mashed potatoes would also be delicious.
I love cooking beef shanks, a braising cut that is still relatively cheap. They are usually cut into cross sections about an inch or so high, though sometimes they are bigger. Because it is a braising cut it requires long, slow cooking- usually about 4-5 hours- which you can do on the stove or in the oven (the larger pieces will require a longer cooking time). They have lovely marrow-y bones that produce a rich, flavorful and nutritious sauce as they cook in lieu of requiring broth to be added, a huge bonus in my opinion (though of course you could still add broth in place of water for even more flavour if you have it). This is a dish to put on early in the day to enjoy for dinner, or better yet to make a day ahead to allow the flavour to deepen with resting.
Beans go so well with meat in a braise or stew. They soak up all the lovely cooking juices as well as gently flavoring them, and help to stretch your cut of meat which is as good for you wallet as your gut. As soon as I started to write this recipe I remembered that I promised someone a full post about beans and how I prepare them. I have notes scattered throughout the newsletters, but promise soon to bring them all together. In the meantime, there is a good description in this post before the recipe for beans with ginger, sesame and cilantro (which is one of my favourite ways to enjoy beans, and is especially good at this time of the year!). Cannellini or Mayacoba beans work well here, as do the giant white Royal Corona beans from Rancho Gordo.
If by chance you were very clever and canned some tomatoes yourself over the summer, use them here and you will be rewarded with an extra delicious stew (this was not me this year, sadly).
Serves 6-8
About 1.5- 2lbs beef shank (750g-1 kg) preferably in two pieces giving you two lovely marrow-y pieces of bone. If you can’t get beef shank sub another braising cut of beef such as chuck (cut into large chunks if using) or use lamb shanks!
Olive oil
Butter, a few tablespoons
2 smallish onions, diced
2 carrots- one finely diced, the other cut into larger bite-size pieces
1 stick celery, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, crushed and finely chopped
2 branches of rosemary, one branch leaves removed and finely chopped
About a teaspoon of thyme, leaves only
A good pinch of fresh oregano leaves if you have any, or a couple of whole sage leaves
1/4 c Marsala (or sub sherry, red or white wine in a pinch)
1/2 c white wine
1 tin tomatoes (28 Oz/ 790g ish)
Strips of peel from 1/2 an orange, try to avoid getting any of the white pith
10 Kalamata olives, pitted and halved- add a few more if you love olives
Juice of half an orange
1/2 lb dried white beans, soaked over night and cooked (or a tin of white beans, cannellini work well)
To Serve:
Garlicky polenta or good brown bread and butter or ricotta gnocchi or mashed potatoes
Finely chopped parsley
Creme fraiche (optional, but very delicious)
Garlicky Raab (optional, see below)
Season the meat generously with salt and set aside for an hour at room temperature (you can do this the night before if you are very organized).
Heat a dutch oven or heavy-based saucepan with a lid over medium-high heat. Add a small piece of butter and a drizzle of olive oil. Sear the beef shanks until they are brown and caramelized on both side, hitting the the rims a little too, especially for large pieces. Be careful not to allow to burn. If there are burnt bits in the pan, wash it out before proceeding. Add a little more oil and butter and add the onion, celery, finely chopped carrot and a pinch of salt. Turn down the heat a little and cook until soft and translucent, about 7 minutes or so. Add the garlic and herbs and stir until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Pour in the Marsala and white wine and then add the beef shank back into the pan. Add the tomatoes and the orange peel then add enough water to the pan to just cover. Season generously with salt and place the lid on the pan. Bring to a very gentle simmer and cook for 3 hours, stirring occasionally and checking the water level- the meat should remain covered the whole time. Alternately you could bring just to a boil and place in a 330F/160C oven for 3 hours, checking occasionally to stir and check the water level, if it seems like it might burn, turn the temp down slightly.
After 3 hours, add the olives, orange juice, beans and large chunks of carrot. Cook for at least another hour or until the meat breaks apart easily with a fork. Shanks have a thin membrane surrounding them, which you may wish to remove after cooking as you are breaking up the meat. I find for the smaller pieces it is not usually necessary, and I just break up the shanks in the pot, but for larger pieces I will remove the shank from the braise to break up into large chunks before putting the meat back into the sauce- at this point I just give any membrane-y bits to my dog.
Serve sprinkled with finely chopped parsley and a dollop of creme fraiche over a bed of garlicky polenta, garlicky raab on the side.
1 large bunch of broccoli raab
3 cloves garlic, crushed with the side pot your knife and finely chopped
olive oil
salt
pinch of dried chilli flakes, optional
There are 2 ways to make this, I usually take the lazy route. Which is to say that I don’t blanch the raab first. Blanching the raab will give you a silkier texture and arguably slightly less bitter finish. I am personally happy to just a have a vegetable end up on the table and so am not too fussed with this step. If you do choose to blanch first, bring a large pot of water to the boil, season with salt and blanch raab for a couple of minutes before running under cold water to stop the cooking. (You can do this ahead of time, perhaps before you cook a pot of pasta?)
Roughly chop the raab.
Heat a large skillet with plenty of olive oil. Add half the garlic, chili flakes if using and a good pinch of salt and stir for 1 minute. Add the raab and the remaining garlic and cook, stirring somewhat frequently until the raab has softened and the whole thing is a lovely garlicky mass of dark green. Serve in a bowl with an extra drizzle of your best olive oil.
My favourite way to cook, because cooking is a daily affair, is to turn leftovers into something new. It always feels like something of a magic trick, or in the least a short cut. Braises such as the above make excellent bases for a leftover lentil soup. Nothing more needed than a little sautéed onion, maybe a carrot or some celery, garlic if you have it (I did not) and a handful of lentils. This week I had some leftover garlicky labne with chopped dill stirred through it which went on top of the soup to give it an entirely fresh flavour. A brand new meal made from 2 different leftovers!
Not just for January, but for any time you need the luxury of a really good sweet treat while trying to maintain some kind of control surrounding sugar/ wheat/ dairy whatever. As far as I am concerned, these are a superfood and I can have as many as I want to. It helps that I think they are better than brownies!
1 1/2 c seedless dates - about 14 medjool, deglet also work but they are little smaller, so perhaps 16 or 17 of those
1 c sliced or slivered almonds- toasted
1 c cocoa powder, the best quality you can get
1 c coconut, unsweetened, desiccated if possible
3-4T maple syrup
Pinch salt, I use Maldon here, its a little sweeter
Extra cocoa powder for rolling/dusting
Place everything in a food processor and process until mostly smooth, or until you can squeeze and roll the mixture into a ball. I like it with 3 T of maple syrup, start there and add up to one more tablespoon for sweetness.
Roll the mixture into balls, about 1 tablespoon each. Place some extra cocoa powder in a small bowl and roll the truffles in it to coat the outside. Store in the fridge.
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