Easy as Shit Shanks
HANDS DOWN THIS IS A WINNER..
Everyone loves lamb shanks and really, what’s not to love about them. Lamb has a very distinct flavor that can be enhanced ever so simply with addition of a few herbs and spices. I've experimented, enjoyed, cooked and eaten my through many a lamb dish over the years and I have to say that in my opinion it always comes back to the basics of the Mediterranean cuisine when preparing a stella (pun intended) lamb dish.
What you’ll need for shit hot shanks:
2 {4 } organic grass-fed lamb shanks
1 {2} tins whole roma tomatoes
3 {6}peeled garlic cloves
1-2 red chillis – deseeded and diced
a few sprigs of rosemary
1 brown onion peeled and roughly cut
1 cup of veggie stock (I make my own - but you don’t have to)
3/4 cup red wine (optional, but highly recommended)
1 tbsp. EVOO
Salt and pepper to season
1 slow cooker
** ingredients in {brackets} indicate quantities if making for 4 people, original recipe is for two **
What to do:
Turn your slow cooker onto high and let it warm for about a half hour. Use this time to do the small amount of food prep necessary for this meal. Once the slow cooker is warmed, place in the garlic, chilli onion, salt and pepper, EVOO, shanks and wine. Place the lid back on the slow cooker and let this sit for another half an hour or so. I generally leave mine until I can smell the garlic and onion infusing with the wine. It’s a pretty damn amazing smell!!
Next add the rest of your ingredients. The lamb shanks should just be covered by the amount of liquid added. It doesn’t matter if parts of the meat are exposed, they will submerge during the cooking process. Replace the lid and leave this to slow cook over the next 6-8 hours. Occasionally move the ingredients around with a set of tongs or a fork to ensure all your flavours are infusing and heat distribution is even.
Serving Suggestion:
Depending on who I am feeding and where I am really dictates what I serve my shanks with. This can be as simple as mashed spuds if you like and is quite often the case if I am camping and feeding boys. However I’ve found that parsnips go exceptionally well with this dish and when I’m at home that is what gets served. I make a puree or out of parsnips, garlic, EVOO and cannellini beans and it is delicious!
Tips:
Cooking time really depends on your slow cooker and how much time you want to wait. I would generally put my shanks on at about 10am with the intention to eat at about 6pm – at about the 3pm mark the meat is quite tender and starting to fall off the bone, at this time I will usually adjust the temperature of my slow cooker and turn it down a bit.
You can add 2 tsp. of corn flour to thicken the liquid if you like as well – If I’m doing this I will dissolve my corn flour in a little hot water before adding it to my dish so the flour doesn’t clump.
If you want a heartier style dish – you can add some lentils to the mix! You can pre-soak some lentils and add them about 2 hours before you are ready to serve OR add a tin of rinsed and drained organic lentils. Both work equally as well – it just depends on what you’d rather do. If I’m camping and this meal is made in a camp oven (which is an awesome idea by the way) they’re tinned every time.
You can also add extra veggies (maybe in place of the wine?) – carrots, parnips and potatoes all are suitable, but really any veggie is fine. It really just depends on your audience.
Don’t have a slow cooker ? Use a crock-pot. Nearly everyone has one of these collecting dust at the back of their cupboards – I actually bought my crock-pot from an op-shop years ago and I swear it was made back in the 50’s – it’s the cutest thing you every did see!
Nutritional Info:
Not only are slow cooked meals bursting with flavour, they are an excellent way of getting the maximum nutrients out of your food. Vitamins and minerals that are often destroyed by higher temperatures are will generally survive the slow cooking process. Slow cooked meals are also great for your gut as the cooking process breaks done and tenderises the food which makes digestion easier. So to all the peeps on anti-candida, specific gut protocol and SIBO diets – your slow cooker and/or crock pot should take prime position in your kitchen.
I probably don’t need to mention the superstar qualities that Garlic provides but just incase you’ve been living under a rock, Garlic is natures antibiotic. It is antifungal, antibacterial and antiviral and has been used for centuries for its medicinal awesomeness. Caution to those on SIBO dietary protocols – as at the moment garlic is not your friend – however, garlic infused oil should be fine to use instead.
LAMB .. where do I start. I’m a stickler for grass fed meat and thanks to recent advertising we are pretty aware that lamb contains a whack of B-vitamins, selenium and zinc. But a lesser known fact is that lamb is also a great source of Omega 3. Depending on the diet of the lamb and its mother, pasture raised lamb has been shown to have up to 25% more Omega 3 than conventionally fed lamb. Pasture fed lambs and their mothers also have a typically more active lifestyle changing the composition of fat that the meat does contain – with about 40% of the fat content of the meat coming from oleic acid. Confused? Perhaps you’ve heard of the benefits of the good fats in olive oil? – Same type of fat. So all in all, slow cooked lamb enjoyed in moderation sounds pretty good to me.
Mediterranean Style Roasted Veggies
For any of you reading this that follow my social media feeds you will already know how much I love a good veggie roast up. For those of you new to the CKandN experience –just so you know, I LOVE a good veggie roast up. I love them for two reasons:
1. They are simple AF. Like ridiculously simple. It doesn’t matter how many veggies you do or not have, you can always create something that tastes amazing. For anyone about to pop their roasting cherry, or for those of you who want to keep it really basic you really only need 3 key ingredients: veggies, oil and salt. Once you’re confident and/or ready to build on your roasting repertoire you can begin to include and experiment by adding combinations of spices, herbs, nuts, seeds, sauces and even cured meats. You will be surprised at some of the taste sensations you create!
2. There are no rules. And Because of this, no one dish will taste the same. You can add as little or as much of anything as you fancy. You can eat and serve them hot or you can let them cool and add them to salads. They can be the star of the dish or simply an additional input of flavour. And last but not least…. You can undercook or over your veggies as it pleases you. Some people luuuurve a par-cooked, crunchy roast veggies. Me? I want mine slightly over cooked, just enough so that the bottoms of a few {most} of the vegetables stick to bottom of the baking dish in an amazing caramelised infusion of oil and salt.
Over time I plan to share with you several of my best roast veggie combinations and I really hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
For my Mediterranean Style Roasted Veggies…
What you’ll need:
3-4 small parsnips {cut in quarter’s length ways}
1 Red Capsicum {deseeded and roughly chopped}
1 large zucchini {chopped into chunks}
1 carrot {chopped into chunks}
1 Spanish {skinned and cut into wedges}
2-3 red or green chillis {deseeded, halved and roughly chopped}
1 large beetroot {cut into wedges}
4-8 garlic cloves {skinned}
1-2 fresh rosemary stalks
½ cup pepitas
EVOO
Salt and pepper
Caramelized Balsamic vinegar
½ a lemon
A good handful of fresh basil
What to do:
Preheat your oven to about 180*
Line a baking tray with baking paper. Place all of your vegetables on the baking tray and scatter them around so that they are evenly distributed. Pull the leaves off the rosemary stalks and sprinkle these over the top of the vegetables. Repeat this process with the pepitas.
Now for the olive oil and salt. I’m pretty generous with both but you don’t have to be. Once you’ve added both, give the vegetables a toss around with your hands or a pair of tongs to more evenly distribute the oil and salt.
Place the baking tray in the oven and let the veggies roast for about 40mins – 1 hour. I definitely recommend checking them and even rotating them around on the tray at 20 minute intervals to further distribute the olive oil and ensure they are all cooking evenly.
Once they are roasted to how you’d like remove them from the oven. Depending on what you plan to do with them will dictate what you add next. As a general rule I love drizzling over some caramelized {sticky} balsamic, a squeeze of fresh lemon and some roughly torn fresh basil leaves.
Serving Suggestion:
Where do I start!
I’ve used these vegetables in so many different dishes. I absolutely love them tossed through an easy green salad of wild rocket and herbs topped with grilled chicken. Another favorite is to serve them with some GF fettuccine and grilled salmon with a big fat dollop of my avocado pesto. Even as a side accompaniment to a slow roasted lamb rack. The list goes on really… use your imagination. Or don’t. Pull them out of the oven, drizzle them with sticky balsamic and honey, grab a fork, assume a comfortable possie leaning up against the bench and just start eating them straight off the tray. Whichever way you choose to eat them – I’m sure you will love them.
Enjoy!
Sicilian Tapenade
This was one of those amazing, accidental creations. You know the ones, you’re a bit bored and want to make something delicious {in this case a dip or spread} to go with something else {this day it was some left over sourdough bread} , yet you’re uninspired. The weeks that have passed prior to this moment have seen you make countless pesto’s, hummus’, dressings, dips, sauces and marinades all of which are sitting in jars on the middle shelf of your fridge begging for the chance to satisfy you in this moment. You open up the fridge door, stare into the food abyss for a minute or two and then give discontented sigh.
This moment, whether in front of an open fridge or cupboard can sometimes last up to ten minutes or more for me and will usually end up with me sitting cross-legged on the floor hoping that by some act of God a meal will just appear on my lap with the required utensil to eat it. Given that this is yet to happen, I will eventually {with another discontented sigh} get up off the ground and grab a cook book to flick though until a few ingredients jump off the page at me in an ‘I’ve got that and I could make that’ light bulb moment.
So completely and thankfully inspired by Matt and Lentils Olive Tapenade I give you my Sicilian Tapenade.
What you’ll need:
1.5 cups pitted Sicilian olives
6 Anchovies
1 cup EVOO
1 whole lemon {skinned}
2-3 cloves of garlic {peeled}
½ cup of loosely packed Thai Basil {it is the purple variety if that helps}
¼ cup fresh parsley
½ tsp fresh rosemary {no stalk}
Salt and pepper to taste
A food processor or high speed blender
What to do:
Place all your ingredients into your food processor and whiz!! Once the desired consistency is reached, pour the contents into a jar and store in the fridge. Or proceed to eat it straight out of the food processor with a spoon.
Serving Suggestion:
This is a delicious accompaniment to any dipping style bread and/or antipasto platter. I was simply spreading it on a piece of sourdough, adding a poached egg and some fresh herbs and it was absolutely divine! One night I tossed it though some warmed pasta as you generally would a pesto and served it with some chicken and fresh greens which was equally as tasty.
Tips:
This will keep for a few weeks in the fridge but you can always pour a little olive oil on top of the mixture in the jar. This will create a barrier between the contents and the air in the top of the jar which will preserve it a bit longer.
This tapenade is super salty, which is fine for me because I’m an addict. Tapenades by nature are salty so if it’s not to your taste you can play around with the balance of the ingredients. The salt comes from the anchovies and the olives combined so I would suggest for a less salty tasting tapenade to reduce these two ingredients and increase the potions of fresh herbs and EVOO.
You can use which ever olives take your fancy but keep in mind that this will change the oil and salt balance of this tapenade. I love Sicilian olives and for me they are the ducks nuts of olives, they are the perfect balanced of salt, oil and crunch and I literally eat them by the jar.
Nutritional Info:
Olives and Olive oil are a magical source of great fats which help protect the body from a host of aliments. Thanks to the dozens of health protective nutrients in olives, their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties have been demonstrated to help in the cardiovascular system, the respiratory system, immune system, nervous system and the gastro intestinal tract.
Love them or hate them anchovies are also great-fat power houses. They are packed with omega 3 fatty acids and also Vitamin A. They also contain a good hit of calcium and phosphorus {thanks to their bones}, protein, potassium, iron and selenium.
Given that we all know that good fats are our friends, I’d say that this little tapenade is a great way to over-indulge!
Soft boiled eggs with crusty sourdough
AKA Eggs and Soldiers.
I thought that by giving it a fancy smancy name that you'd be more like to read what I have to say about this timeless classic.
So here goes...
Much like porridge, it's one of those few recipes that as children we all grew up with and loved and there is generally {hopefully} a nice warm and fuzzy memory associated with it. Porridge and the proper way to stack toast before you add the butter makes me think of my dad ; cold roast lamb, my grandma ; cooked pasta with olive oil and salt, my other grandma ; potato chips that had been stored away in a boat hull for far too long- and had acquired a certain 'taste', sailing with my grandfather ; and boiled eggs with soldiers, my mum.
My mum has an amazing ability to make any situation, no matter how dull and boring it could possibly be, seem like the absolute ducks nuts of ultimate fun. It's something you have to truely experience to understand and as a child I highly doubt I appreciated this amazing talent. Even now with my nieces I watch her do this and it's as hilarious for them as it was for us. Due to the fact that with soft boiling eggs there is a '3 minute timer' involved, it was always a race against time to get everything prepared and assembled whilst those humble little eggs boiled away. SO MUCH FUN!! A flurry of plates, knives and spoons, the toasting of toast, the buttering of toast, the preciseness of the 'soldiering' of the toast, the cuteness of the egg cups and finally, the ultimate reward of dunking those little butter drenched soldiers into the eggs if the the entire assembly was completed in the allocated time frame. Each team member had there set task and not one of us dared let the side down.
So by now I'm sure you're wondering why the heck I've included this recipe as everyone should know how to boil an egg right? Sure, well at least I hope you all do, and if you don't then it's never to late to learn. The truth is that despite all the amazing food I am lucky enough to be able to cook and eat, that sometimes there is nothing I love more than the simplicity of a good old fashion favourite. I want these recipes to continue to create memories and stay in households and families for ever.
What you'll need:
4-8 Medium Eggs {I average 2 eggs per person - but for the wee folk, maybe just one}
4-8 Slices of toast {I find 1 piece of toast per egg as an average works a treat}
1 large saucepan 3/4 full with hot water
Butter
Salt and pepper
Absolutely adorable egg cups
For each person 1 butter knife, 1 plateand 1 teaspoon
1 egg timer
What to do:
Place the sauce pan on the stove and bring the water to the boil. Once the water is boiling place each egg into the boiling water. I use a spoon to lower mine into the water as this prevents them hitting the bottom and cracking if they are dropped in. You want to do this as quickly as you can so that there is not much of a cooking time delay between the first and the last egg that you placed in the water.
Set the egg timer. Most egg timers are set at 3 minutes so if you don't have an egg timer a stop watch, wall clock or anything else to gauge the 3 minutes by will be fine. Just make sure you have it sorted before the eggs go into the boiling water.
Now the craziness begins. You {the adult} have 3 minutes to delegate, organise and assemble the designated eating spot. Sounds pretty straight forward right? Ha! For us sometimes this would happen seamlessly, like we {the children} just got it, and mum, the proud regimented instructor would just sit back and bask in the glory of her organised chaos whilst we ate our perfectly cooked eggs. I'm pretty sure that these moments were few and far between and that in reality there were tears, broken plates, over cooked eggs and the occasional stabbing if a sibling {jokes}. However my recollection of these moments remains one of happiness in which all our appendages remain in tact and that's how I'm choosing to keep it.
Now back to the task at hand, your mission should you choose to accept it adult, is to {in the 3 minutes} get the table set. Each 'egg eater' will require a plate, an egg cup or two, a teaspoon, some buttered and perfectly soldiered toast, and depending on their age, a knife to crack the top of the egg off.
Tip: you can cook your toast before the eggs and then just butter and solider as required or if there is a candidate that you see fit and trustworthy enough to be in charge of a toaster, butter and a knife, give the task to them during this 3 minute time frame.
This next part is optional but I recommend it if you are using an older stove that has heating elements as opposed to gas. Once the 3 minutes is up remove the saucepan from the heat and do a 'test egg'. Place one egg in in egg cup and with a knife, crack the top off {about 1cm}. What you want is an egg where the 'white part' is cooked but the yolk is still soft and runny. If this is the case, tip the boiling water into the sink leaving your eggs in the saucepan to be served. If you feel you eggs are undercooked place them back on the heat for another 30-60 seconds and then re-test.
Your eggs are now ready to be placed in their egg cups. If all has gone well by this time children and/or partner are sitting in their designated chairs eagerly awaiting with the rewards of their input. It's entirely up to you how this next part happens, the eggs will still be quite hot to touch so if transferringthem into a bowl instead of the hot saucepan is a better option for serving at the table so that little fingers can't be tempted to touch then do that. Use a tablespoon to transport the eggs from the bowl or saucepan to the egg cups. Cut the top off each egg with a knife and if you like {and I highly recommend this} season the egg with salt and pepper.
Now start dunking those soldiers. Mid-egg you may need a re-seasoning with salt and pepper {I know I always do} and once you get to the bottom use your teaspoon to scrape out the remainder of the egg. Applaud your little team on the success of this mission and move onto your next egg if you have one.
And that's how it's done. Perfectly executed and super-fun, soft boiled eggs.
Tips and Nutritional Info:
One of the things I love most about egg and soldiers is the easy adaptability of this recipe for food intolerances, hence the reason I still enjoy it as an easy favourite to this day. You can sub in any type of bread that you like, what was stock-standard white bread when I was a child is now a rustic, gluten free sourdough. Dairy intolerance ? Use avocado or pesto as an alternate spread to butter.
As a meal, eggs and soldiers is perfectly balanced in the terms of macronutrient requirements. The better the quality bread that you choose, the better the complex carbohydrate and fibre content. If the bread has seeds or use avocado instead of butter you get the added bonus of additional nutrients and good fats. Eggs themselvesare nutritional powerhouses. They contain a complete amino acid profile which makes them a complete protein crowning them an excellent breakfast option. They are rich in B vitamins, zinc and choline, vitamin D and cholesterol and from an economical point of view, well let's just say that for less than $15, bread butter and avocado included, you could feed and entire family quite easily.
So there you have it folks. My rendition of Eggs and Soldiers. I hope you keep this recipe alive and enjoy making amazing memories with it. X
Breakfast Frittata for One
Ahhhhhh breakfast. My favourite meal. Actually that's not true, all meals are my favourite meals. Any excuse to eat really. But breakfast is particularly important because how we start our day will determine so much about how our day pans out in the sense of energy, motivation, clarity, cravings and even our food choices for the rest of the day.
I hate boring breakfasts and I can't eat the same thing day in day out. Thus I have dedicated a very big portion of my life to creating perfectly balanced breakfasts that not only taste amazing but also provide me with the sustained energy that I need to get through my crazy days.
Breakfast Fritattas are an easy to make, hands down winner as far as I'm concerned and this is one of the the many scrumptious breakfasts options that I am so happy to be sharing with you.
What you'll need:
1 clove of garlic peeled and diced
1 small red chilli deseeded and diced
3 broccoli florets thinly sliced
1/2 small red capsicum diced
1/4 brown onion diced
2 large eggs
A few thin slices of goats chèvre or fetta
2 tbsp finely chopped parsley
Small handful of baby spinach or rocket
2 tbsp of smoked or spicy tomato relish
1 lemon wedge
Salt and pepper
1 small non-stick frypan and a lid that fits
What to do:
Place your frypan on the stove at medium heat. Once the pan is hot add a splash of EVOO. Add the garlic, chilli, onion, capsicum and broccoli to that pan and using a wooden spoon toss these ingredients around in the oil so that they begin to cook.
In a separate bowl, crack in the 2 eggs and whisk them together with a fork. By this stage the ingredients in your frypan should be par-cooked which is exactly how you want them. If you feel they need a little longer to cook, the give them a few more minutes.
With your wooden spoon distribute the veggies evenly around the bottom of the frypan and pour your eggs over the top. The egg mixture should be evenly covering the veggies, if it isn't pick up your frypan and tilt it from side to until the mixture is evenly distributed. Return the pan to the heat. Scatter the pieces of chèvre on top.
It honestly won't take long to cook so keep a close eye on it! If you feel that you need to adjust the heat of your stove top, then do so. You don't want the bottom to burn before the top is cooked. Once it is starting to look as though it is nearly cooked through, place the lid on the frypan. This will help hold some heat in and will cook the top of the frittata. It doesn't matter if the lid is not an exact fit or of some of the heat is escaping. If you don't have a lid, sit a dinner plate on top for a few minutes, just be careful lifting it off that you don't burn yourself.
Now, once you are satisfied that your frittata is cooked though, turn your stove off and move the pan away from any source of heat. I generally sit my pan on my wooden chopping board but you don't have to, and if you have one of those plastic style chopping boards it's probably best that you don't.
It's up to you if you want to transfer this onto a plate but I honestly prefer to just eat it straight out of the fry pan with a fork. Season the frittata with salt and pepper, and place a big dollop of relish smack bang in the centre. Finally, add your greenery of choice and squeeze the lemon juice over the top. And there you have it, one super - simple breakfast for one.
Tips:
I will quite often have this with some toast and avocado - because: carbs :) But it honestly depends on how my morning unfolds as sometimes I nail the toast whilst I’m cooking it. I also sometimes will cook some left over rice or GF pasta into because: carbs. I also sometimes can’t finish the entire frittata, so take the rest for a mid-morning snack or add it to my lunch.
Feeding more than one? This is a pretty adaptable recipe. If you need to feed two people, or even a small tribe you simple bulk the ingredients out. For a family, I’d use a large frypan and about 6-8 eggs and add a few more veggies, just enough so that the bottom of the pan is loosely covered.
Want a FODMAP friendly version? Easy. Omit the onion and garlic and used Cobram Estate garlic infused olive oil instead. You can omit the goats cheese entirely or, just swap it for Parmesan. Also, be careful of the relish you choose to use as a lot of them will contain onion and garlic. Other than that, the rest is fine and dandy!
Enjoy x