How to make a simple Braised Lamb!

I have been craving to cook something at home. I love making some wet and soft comfort food like beef cheek or osso buco maybe even Hungarian goulash. But what is the point of cooking it but none at home can eat with me?

After some thinking... Lamb! Thinking of lamb i was also thinking of trying out some spices i saw at work but never use before. I went to google it on its flavour profile and usage.

Here is how it goes...

Espelette Pepper. Use just a little for garnish and for its flavour. Not spicy at all. Nice

This is the spice mix i was pretty alien to. After some wiki and google, manage to see the list of ingredient that goes into the mix. Pretty North African/Arabic kind of mix. Should be good for dry rubs and flavouring stew.

Ever since i started culinary, the first dry spice that got me hooked should be this. I love the sweet and smokey flavours that goes well in most food.

Yesterday after work, i drop by the supermarket to pick up some stuff so i could marinade the meat in advance. I cut the lamb shoulder into large chunks so i can get some nice bite out of it.

I did a dry rub with Ras el Hanout and smoked paprika then coat with with some really good evoo to seal in the flavour.

Tonight when i reached home, i started first with the mirepox. Roast it with some olive oil.

Put the roasted mirepox into a pot of stock (about 2L, lamb is preferred but chicken, beef or veal will do...) with a bottle of red wine, throw in some thyme and rosemary. Let it simmer away for about 1-2 hour then strain.

Meanwhile, coat the lamb with flour, sear the lamb and give it a nice colour. No need to be fully cooked.

Put it straight into a pot. I also throw in a can of tomato concasse, more fresh herbs and aged balsamic vinegar to give it that extra oomph of flavour. With that i'm sure the sweetness and acidity will be perfect :)

then i move on to peel and deseed some pepper and heat a pan till its super smoking hot and add in the pepper. Tossing it so it seal the outside of the pepper quickly but not over cooking it. This will help keep the pepper in shape after braising.

Just throw all the pepper into the pot and also strain the braising liquid and add into the pot with the lamb.

Cover it with foil, about 180 DegC for 45-1h. I don't want it too soft till it loses any bite to it but still soft and tender to be chewed easily by any old man.

After its done, strain the sauce into another saucepan and reduce it. I added some garlic and more fresh herbs. Also added a small block of butter giving the sauce a nice sheen to it.

After it is reduced (about 20-30min) to a nice sauce like consistency. Look at the colour of the sauce... Superbe...

Recombine it with the meat and you are done. Simple and Delicious right?

Some Updates!

I find myself blogging lesser and lesser due to some time constrains so i shall update a little to keep this page alive :)

(Canape ~ Beet Cured Salmon)

On march i was starting to do Tournant at Garde Manage station, it was really hard juggling 2 station as i find myself overloading with tasks from both station.

Fresh Octopus flown in straight to our restaurant. The first time i witness how to process octopus from scratch.

The start of spring season means no more black trumpet mushrooms, hedgehogs mushrooms and girolle. But here comes a family of fresh Heirloom Tomato!

(Special ~ Marinated Octopus with Tomato Salad)

Oh, Just one random day my friend was asking me out for dinner. It happens to be a place i have been dying to try out! Gunther's! Awesome angel hair pasta with caviar.

My Chef de Cuisine here loves to work with little piggys. I hope one day i can learn how to debone a baby pig from him.

Nice Colour eh? :)

(Complimentary Soup - Jouno Tomato Gazpacho)

One night, went out for dinner with colleagues to a place called Brasserie Wolf. The EC is one of my colleague's boyfriend so that night we had quite a bit of complimentary food. The one that left most impression was the Gazpacho. Using a tomato sorbet to keep the soup chill was a fantastic idea. Well balance of sweet, savory and acidity, i loved it!

Recently we have been doing quite a bit of fish specials. This was the biggest red Snapper i ever seen!

So far thats about it, not much chance to take photo when the kitchen is busy...

Cold Angel Hair Pasta with Caviar and Truffle Oil

After eating this dish at Gunther's, i was thinking how should i approach if i'm cooking this dish.

The garnish component is the easy, just caviar.

But how about the pasta?

How to give a simple pasta a slightly complex flavour, well seasoned but looks really erm... plain? First, to cook pasta you will need liquid. Pasta to liquid ratio 1:10 to ensure the pasta is not starchy. Liquid also must be well seasoned with salt to give flavour. Then suddenly i remember a conversation with a friend then i thought, can i use a well flavoured chicken broth to cook the pasta? how will it turn out?

Turns out to be a super expensive dish. After cooking the pasta there is no use for the super strong broth anymore. And to cook a main course portion of pasta the amount of broth needed is probably 2L else the noodles will start to lump after the starch is released into the broth.

The amount of truffle oil used must also be well controlled and the pasta should not be like oily noodles. Looks simple but not easy eh?

This is why good food are made by people who are passionate, doesn't mind long hours and low wages, not just someone working for a monthly salary...

How to steam clams and mussels...

Last week i went to a place call Brussels Sprout @ Robertson. As a typical Singaporean, i am so used to the bbq seafood style of chilli seafood or stir fry with some sauce. However western way of preparing shellfish like clams and mussels is to steam them and they are simple yet delicious.

Here i have is New Zealand Clams steam simply with some simple ingredients.

Simple steam clams....

Clams

garlic

chilli padi

Clam juice

White wine

lemon zest

butter

lemon juice

salt and pepper

Saute garlic and chilli till fragrant (or choking if u love chilli padi).

add in white wine and clam juice and reduce it by half.

add in the clams then cover the pot for 2 min till all the clams are open. Discard the close ones.

Season with salt and pepper.

Add in some butter and toss around then add in some lemon juice.

Throw in some chopped parsley and chopped chive.

Simple and nice...