Lamb Shanks With Pears Pistachios Food

LAMB TAGINE WITH PEARS

Steps:

• In a large skillet, heat 3 tablespoons oil over medium heat. Add shallots, and saute until lightly browned. Add lamb, and cook until browned all over. Add just enough water to cover (about 3 cups). Season with salt, pepper, ginger, cinnamon, and saffron. Simmer, covered, over low heat until lamb is very tender, about 1 hour. If the sauce needs to thicken, uncover, and cook for 15 minutes more.
• Meanwhile, quarter and core pears, but do not peel them. In a large skillet, heat butter and remaining tablespoon of oil over medium heat. Add pears, and cook until cut sides have caramelized. Place pears, skin-side up, on top of meat in the skillet. Continue to cook, covered, until pears are very tender, about 30 minutes. Be sure not to overcook pears or they will fall apart. Serve immediately.

LAMB SHANKS

Steps:

• For the brine:
• Place the water, sugar, and salt into a large container. Carefully add the lamb shanks and soak for 24 hours.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Remove shanks from the brine and pat dry. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic, to taste.
• Coat shanks with flour and saute in 2 to 3-ounces of virgin olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium-high heat until golden brown, about 5 minutes each side.
• Place the shanks in a roasting pan with the crushed tomatoes.
• In same saute pan that the shanks were seared in, saute the carrots, celery stalks, onion, fresh fennel and garlic until tender, about 5 minutes over medium-high heat. Remove from the heat and add to the roasting pan.
• Deglaze saute pan with 1 cup each red wine and orange juice. Reduce by half and add to roasting pan.
• Add 1/2 cup each fresh Italian parsley and fresh oregano to roasting pan. Cover and roast in oven for 2 hours or until tender. After 1 hour, turn shanks and cover for remaining time, making sure shanks are covered in the gravy.
• Garnish with fresh oregano sprigs and parsley and your favorite Italian cheese. Best served with polenta!

BRAISED LAMB SHANKS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat the olive oil in a large, deep Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid over moderate heat until hot but not smoking. Season the lamb shanks with salt and pepper and cook, in batches if necessary, turning with tongs, until well browned, about 10 minutes each batch. Remove the lamb shanks with tongs to a plate and set aside.
• Stir the onions, carrots, rosemary, bay leaves, and garlic into the dutch oven and cook, stirring, until the onions are very soft, about 5 minutes. Add 2 1/2 cups of the wine and deglaze the pan. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for 5 minutes. Taste for seasoning.
• Return the lamb shanks to the pot and braise the mixture, tightly covered, in the oven for 1 hour. Uncover and braise for 2 more hours, turning the shanks every 30 minutes. Stir in the turnips and the remaining 1/2 cup of the wine, and continue to braise, in the oven for 30 minutes. Discard the bay leaves. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• While the lamb shanks are braising, make the gremolata: chop together the rosemary, orange zest, and garlic. Place each lamb shank on a serving plate, top with the vegetables, sprinkle with gremolata and serve immediately.

SEARED RACK OF LAMB WITH PISTACHIO TAPENADE

Steps:

• To make the pistachio tapenade: In a food processor combine the pistachios, olives, capers, garlic, herbs and puree. While the machine is running, slowly drizzle in olive oil until the mixture becomes a paste. Add the zest and pulse 1 more time, drizzling in more oil if necessary. Reserve until ready to use.
• Remove 2 rib bones from the 8 rib rack to make it a 6-rib rack. Counting from either end remove the 2nd and 7th bone. This will create 6 even chops that are thicker than a normal lamb chop. Cut 6 even chops and season them generously with salt and allow them to sit for 10 to 15 minutes before cooking.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
• Coat a large saute pan generously with olive oil and bring to medium-high heat. When the oil is hot but not smoking, add the lamb chops and cook for about 2 minutes on each side to brown. If the pan begins to smoke, lower the heat. The chops should be beautifully caramelized on both sides. Remove the chops to a sheet pan and schmear generously with the pistachio tapenade. Place in preheated oven and cook another 4 to 5 minutes for medium rare. Remove chops from oven and let rest for at least 5 minutes before serving.

AROMATIC LAMB SHANK STEW

Steps:

• Put 3 tablespoons of the oil into a very large, wide, heavy-bottomed pan and warm over medium heat. Brown the lamb shanks, in batches, in the pan and then remove to a roasting pan or whatever else you've got at hand to sit them in.
• Peel the onions and garlic and process in a food processor or chop them finely by hand. Add the remaining oil to the pan, and fry the onion-garlic mush until soft, sprinkling salt over to stop it sticking.
• Stir in the turmeric, ground ginger, chile, cinnamon and nutmeg and season with some freshly ground pepper. Stir again, adding the honey, soy sauce and Marsala. Put the shanks back in the pan, add cold water almost to cover, bring to the boil then put a lid on the pan, lower the heat and simmer very gently for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until the meat is tender.
• Add the red lentils and cook for about 20 minutes longer with the lid, until the lentils have softened into the sauce and the juices have reduced and thickened slightly. Check for seasoning.
• Toast the nuts by heating them for a few minutes in a dry frying pan, and sprinkle onto the lamb as you serve it.
• Fill the bottom of a steamer, or base of a couscoussier should you possess one, with water and bring to a boil. When it looks like it's almost ready to boil, fill the kettle and put it on, then empty the couscous into a glass bowl, add the salt, crush in the cardamom and mix with your fingers, then pour over a quart of boiling water from the kettle and place a plate on top of the bowl. Leave to stand for 5 minutes, then drain and empty into the steamer or couscoussier top and sit this on top of the boiling water beneath. Add the slices of butter on top of the couscous then clamp on the lid and let steam for about 7 to 10 minutes, by which time the couscous should be tenderly cooked and the butter melting. (You can do this a simpler way if you prefer, by just steeping the couscous in the boiling water for 10 to 15 minutes, but the grains will be more dense and more likely to clump. It's not disastrous, however, and you must decide what you're prepared to do.)
• Meanwhile, toast the almonds by frying them in a dry pan until fragrant and golden, remove them to a plate, then do the same to the pine nuts. Chop the pistachios. Once the couscous is cooked, tip the bowl, fork through (and always use a fork for mixing or fluffing up couscous; a spoon will crush it and turn it stodgy), sprinkling in the almonds and pine nuts as you do so (and taste for seasoning at the same time, too). Now fork in most of the pistachios, and sprinkle those that remain lightly on top.

PEAR AND POMEGRANATE LAMB TAGINE

Steps:

• Place lamb in a 5- or 6-qt. oval slow cooker. Add pears and shallots. Combine 1/4 cup orange juice, 1/4 cup pomegranate juice, honey and seasonings; add to slow cooker., Cook, covered, on low for until meat is tender, 6-8 hours. Remove lamb to a rimmed serving platter; keep warm. Stir remaining orange and pomegranate juices into cooking liquid; pour over lamb. Sprinkle with pomegranate seeds and parsley. If desired, serve over couscous.

LAMB WITH PEAR TAGINE

Steps:

• In a large sauce pan gently fry the onion in the olive oil until soft.
• Add lamb, ginger, and coriander to the pan and cook until it changes color.
• Add cumin, black pepper, cinnamon, and water to just cover the meat.
• Salt to taste.
• Cover and simmer gently until the meat is tender, about 1.5-2 hours.
• If there seems to be a bit too much liquid, displace the lid after an hour of cooking.
• Add the pears to the meat together with almonds. Cook for a further 5 minutes or until the pears are soft.
• NOTE:.
• For a different twist on this, you can substitute mixed vegetables of your choice, instead of pear. It would make it more savory than sweet.

LAMB WITH PEARS

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, brown the scallions in the grape seed oil. Add the Lamb steaks and brown on both sides. Put enough water in the sauce pan to half cover the meat and scallions.
• Sprinkle in the spices, stir until well mixed, and simmer.
• In another pan combine the butter with the remaining grape seed oil. Make sure the butter doesn't burn or brown. Add the sliced pear and caramelize the fleshy parts, NOT the skin. Add this to the Lamb and scallions. Cover and simmer until done to your liking.
• Serve with roti, paratha, or boiled potatoes. Goes well greek salad, tabouli, or chick-pea salad on the side.

PISTACHIO CRUSTED RACK OF LAMB

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Generously season each rack of lamb with herbes de Provence, salt, and black pepper.
• Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. Place lamb in skillet and cook, browning on all sides, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer lamb to a foil-lined baking sheet; set aside.
• Stir pistachios, bread crumbs, butter, olive oil, and a pinch of salt and black pepper in a bowl. Spread mustard on the fat-side of each rack of lamb. Pat pistachio mixture on top of mustard. Bake in the preheated oven until the crust is golden and lamb is pink in the center, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a plate and let rest 10 minutes before slicing.