rose petal jam

Slow cooked lamb shanks with cannellini beans

This dish has been inspired by both Saint Delia and my colleague Gillian. I was looking for something worthy of celebrating our friend Sunila’s birthday and that I could do as a week day meal without killing myself. It did mean that I had to nip home mid afternoon and turn the oven on but hey, when you can drive to home and back in 15 minutes it’s no great hardship.

I should also explain that this dish and the occasion of eating it with Sunila and Dom is the culmination of a year long campaign by them to get me to eat lamb. It is their very favourite meat and it annoyed them greatly that I refused to share in their pleasure. Because I am such a good wife and friend and let’s face it, a total people pleaser, I have been on a mission to like lamb and have been trying it every so often so that it got to the point, the tipping point, where I decided that it was actually quite delicious. Prior to this, I even went so far as to say it was ‘yucky’ and ‘smelled disgusting’ and that I would ’never, never eat it’. Well, I am now eating my words. And the lamb.

Serve 4

Mediterranean Lamb Shanks with Cannelini Beans

4 lamb shanks

2 large carrots

2 sticks of celery

A handful of thyme

4 sprigs of rosemary

6 anchovy fillets

1 bottle of red wine

1 can of chopped tomatoes

6 strips of pancetta

2 cans of cannelini beans

1tsp corn flour

Put veggies and herbs in the bottom of a large casserole dish (must have a lid, more later).

Preheat the oven to 140 degrees C or the equivalent.

Put the lamb shanks on top, nestling them in together. Drop the pancetta, snipped up over the top and the anchovy fillets. Plop over the tinned tomatoes and the finish by pouring the whole bottle of red wine over. The lamb should be mostly covered with liquid but it’s fine for the shanks to poke out a bit. Liberally grind black pepper over. No need for salt as the ‘chovies do that job for us, and as we all know we need to eat less salt…

Cover the dish with foil tightly and the put the lid on. Put in oven for at least 4 hours, but 6 is better.

About 45 mins before you intend to eat, add the beans and take out a few ladles of stock to reduce to a sauce in a pan. Add some slaked corn flour – about 1 teaspoon of flour in about a tablespoon of water will do the trick – and add to the sauce.

Serve each person with a shank, some of the beans and veggie mix and some of the thickened sauce. We had this with fine green beans which looked great on the plate (as you can see!) and big glasses of red wine.

What was great about this dish is that it was so easy, very little prep and it really just makes itself, using ingredients that practically leap off shelves they are so easy to find. You could skip the sauce making stage and just serve the liquor like a broth around the shank too. The loveliness of the taste is inversely proportionate to the amount of time and effort needed. One of those dishes that you feel slightly guilty for being praised so highly for (or is that just me?) but as a self confessed people pleaser, let’s just say I got my fix!

desert island foods...

At the weekend we had our friend Sunila over for dinner. She's a great foodie also and we spent a very entertaining hour after dinner compiling our desert island foods. This stemmed from a previous conversation where I noted that on Desert Island Discs, they asked chefs which herb they would take to the island and they invariably said parsley. "Parsley!" I cried in disgust, closely followed by Dom. Now, I don't HATE parsley, but honestly, if you could only have ONE herb, why oh why would you plump for parsley? But apparently Sunila would.

Anyhow... We then decided to pick one thing in several catagories such as fruit, vegetables, fish, spice, meat etc etc. We wrote them out and put them in an envelope and will open them in 10 years time so we can say things like "butternut squash! that's SO 2006".

It was an interesting exercise and of course we cheated like anything because we were allowed 8 staples, 5 luxury items and also a favourite meal from the other two :-).

Oh and for the record we ate pea, prawn and mint risotto followed by zabaglione (made with beaume de venise instead of marsala) and homemade pistachio biscotti. We also drank red wine though I can't remember which one except it was italian.

PS for the record, I'd take sage to the island.

full of eastern promise...

I thought I should really include a recipe that uses the namesake of this blog, rose petal jam. When coming up with the name for the blog, Dom and I thought that this would be a good name for several reasons:

It’s unusual and we love to try new stuff. We first came across rose petal jam in an Indian supermarket and just HAD to buy it. We couldn’t wait to get it home and as soon as we did, we headed for the kitchen, grabbed spoons, opened the jar and tentatively dived in (now there’s an oxymoron if I ever heard one!) It can be found in middle eastern supermarkets and on the world wide web I believe.

It’s Middle Eastern in origin, as is Dominic (he's half Lebananse and lived in Iraq as a young child). Rose petals and rosewater, syrup etc are all very reminiscent of the Arabian nights, Turkish delight and all things dusky and romantic.

I on the other hand am a bit of an English rose – a Yorkshire rose infact. And I love anything of a rosy bent. I always wear a rose based perfume, love pinks, damasks and rich reds, and have a weakness for rose cream chocolates – Charbonnel and Walker if you’re passing…

I was reading the Moro cookbook recently, as you do, and I came across a recipe for Rosewater and Cardamom ice cream. This got me thinking about the rose petal jam that was sat in the cupboard. We were going to cook Middle Eastern food for Helen & Mark (sister and BF) and I’d wanted a suitable dessert. Suddenly it all became clear. So whilst this is based on the Moro recipe, I feel I have adapted it suitably to make it mine, all mine.

Rose petal jam ice cream

400ml whipping cream
400ml full fat milk
250ml of evaporated milk
100ml of rosewater
12 cardamom pods
110g golden caster sugar
3 tablespoons of rose petal jam

Firstly, put the cream and milk into a pan along with the cardamom pods. Bring to the boil and then simmer for about 15 mins until it has reduced by about 1/3 and it has turned a rich, almost yellowy cream colour. The pods will puff up and infuse their flavour into the milk. Whilst this is simmering add the rosewater and sugar into a small pan and heat, dissolving the sugar and making a thin sugar syrup.

Once the milk mixture is done, strain into a jug, removing the pods. Add the sugar syrup and jam and stir well until the jam has been distributed through the mixture, flecking it with it’s lovely browny tinge. The ice cream mixture will now be a very light caramel in colour.

Allow this to cool and either put in the ice cream maker if you have one, or into a tupperware tub if you don’t. If you are going with the Tupperware, put in the freezer and every 40 mins or so take out and incorporate the ice crystals until it begins a firm set then just leave in the freezer until needed. If using the machine continue as if you were making some less glamorous flavour and then put into the freezer to save for when needed.

It occurs to me that you could substitute the rose water for orange blossom water, and you could also add little shards of vivid green pistachio at the soft set stage.

You could also serve with pomegranate syrup drizzled over the top. Mmm… the perfect chilled dessert for a spicy and sultry middle eastern feast.

the ultimate steak sandwich

Let me start by saying the title is a slight untruth as for me, the ultimate steak sandwich is one with venison. However, we have been so hectic recently that we haven’t had the chance to visit our game butcher. This beef sirloin in the sandwich pictured is from Radford’s in Sleights, best butcher we know and their meat is fabulous. If you are ever in North Yorkshire, check them out, well worth the visit.

Dominic and I have experimented with what makes up the ultimate steak sandwich. Different marinades and rubs, different bread, selection of leaves, accompaniments. We now think we have it perfected. Here goes.

Firstly, prepare a rub for the steak. We put about a handful of fresh thyme and about 20 peppercorns in our spice grinder with one clove of garlic. You could use pestle and mortar but frankly we are lazy and have the grinder so… add some oil too to loosen.

Rub this over the steak. We reckon you need about 300g of steak for 2 decent sized sarnies. We generally get one big one and beat it out a little so is about 10mm thick. It gets chopped up into slices anyway. Just use knuckles to press and squidge it a bit thinner, no need for a meat tenderiser. It’s important that the steak has been out of the fridge for a couple of hours so that it is room temperature. Once the rub is on, just leave it.

And so to the onions. I think it’s important to use red onions as they give a better flavour. I use 2 medium sized ones as they cook down so much. Peel and cut in half and then into thin strips or half moons, whatever you prefer. Add a splash of olive oil to a large frying/ sauté pan and bring to heat. Add the onions, stir and coat and then turn the heat down so the onions cook down slowly. When at the stage of darker stickiness add either a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar or about 100ml of red wine. Raise the heat and reduce the liquid so the onions absorb and coat. Add 1/2 a teaspoon of unrefined granulated sugar too. Set aside in a bowl. Don’t chill.

For bread, it was tricky to decide. I prefer oven crisp baguettes, either something very fresh from a bakers, like ficelle or the ones you bake yourself in the oven are acceptable substitute (I’m sure somewhere a bread snob is about to shoot me down in flames, but I like them, so sue me). Dominic prefers the allure of a ciabatta. So you decide! The bread must be oven warm though so refresh in the oven if necessary.

And now for the secret ingredient. We cannot have a steak sarnie without this. It’s impossible. Tesco’s (sorry, I know, the evil empire) Finest range smoked garlic mayonnaise. God it’s good. And a perfect accompaniment to the steak and the onions.

When cooking the steak, well, it depends how you like it. Since throwing off my 25 year mantle of vegetarianism (WHAT was I thinking!!) I have embraced the rarest of meats and love my steak between blue and rare. Dom is a rare man (in many ways) so we work together well on steak sharing. Those with less compatible partners or friends will have to divide the steak before cooking. We cook the steak for 45-50 seconds each side. Resting is important, between two hot dinner plates, one overturned on the other.

Meanwhile assemble the sandwich. Slather the mayo on the bread, add the onions. Have the salad at the ready (rocket leaves only please). Cut the meat against the grain into 5mm thick slices. Arrange on top of the onions. We tried putting the onions on top of the steak but it’s tricky and frankly it makes no difference to the taste. Then add a generous amount of rocket, close the sandwich, stand back and admire. There really are only two acceptable drinks, a large glass of red (a gutsy shiraz or a fruity Italian) or an ice-cold beer. Ahhh!!

The pepperiness of the steak, the sweet and mellow onions, freshness of the rocket, the smoky, richness of the mayo and finally the crisp yet soft texture of the bread. Can it get any better than this?

Sit facing each other to share the joy and eat greedily. Make sure you have a napkin. Smile and sigh.