Tag: focaccia bread

Lamb shanks with rose coco beans and tomatoes

It’s cold. It’s dark. I need something warm and filling. I am planning something that can cook by itself while I am out the following dayand be ready when we return.

When I look in the freezer I spot two lovely looking lamb shanks that I bought when I was last in the North and I know I have a packet of very beautiful looking beans…

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I’d never seen them before but they looked so pretty that I had to buy them. Well then. I can imagine them going so well with some slow cooked shanks…..perhaps a sort of Italian feel to the meal?

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First step has to be get the beans ready. They had to be soaked overnight first  and then they need to be boiled for 10 minutes or so. That would fit in with my timings for tomorrow…

So they were left overnight to soak and then the following morning put on to boil

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And the froth scooped off

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Make sure that there’s  no more froth and then rinse them clean.

While all that has been happening, you can get cracking on the vegetables

 

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As lamb is a lovely, sweet meat I thought that sweet potato in with the shanks would be a nice mix, alongside the usual suspects…. I think I may have been influenced by the pretty pink beans because I realise now that the sweet potato is pink as are the little shallots that are going to sit alongside the lamb.

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I browned the shanks to make sure there was a decent colour  and good depth of flavour – if you don’t, the shanks will still cook perfectly but will look pale and uninteresting.

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And really that’s it…. all you do now is put it into your slow cooker or casserole

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Put some vegetables in first, lie the shanks on top, then add more vegetables, a clove or so of chopped garlic….

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Put those boiled and rinsed beans on top

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And I topped the lot with a tin of chopped plum tomatoes. Well, beans and tomatoes go so well together. I really was thinking pink, wasn’t I?

Some salt and pepper…. lid on and into the oven it went.

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That was it maybe four or so hours later….

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And once spooned out…. oh the delicious smell…. it went perfectly with a glass of red wine and some  freshly baked focaccia

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Garlic and Rosemary Focaccia

Well, if you are going to make soup then you need bread to go with it. You could buy stuff, I suppose, but as we are becoming Domestic Goddesses and nothing fazes us… obviously, the way forward is to make the world’s easiest bread.

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All you need is less than an hour,

250 g of strong bread flour

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7g of instant yeast (that’s a sachet or a teaspoon of instant packet yeast – yes, you eagle eyed baking detectives, I am using a different packet from the  last time. Just thought I’d give it a go, that’s all)

Olive oil

Garlic

Rosemary

Salt – you know I love that lovely, crunchy, large crystalled Maldon.

In a large bowl, put the flour, yeast and a teaspoon of salt and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil.  I did it in my food mixer because (am I boring you with this? I only have one working arm you know) I needed to give it a good mixing and there’s only so much I can do…. add in 150 ml of warm water and mix it till it becomes a smooth dough.

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Get it out onto a floured wooden board and knead it till it looks smooth and bouncy. Then, on a clean surface, put down some olive oil, flop the dough onto it and using a rolling pin, roll it out…

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It just needs a rough roll to get it smoothed out.

I use silicon sheets – you can get them anywhere nowadays – I even got some in a Pound Store.  Absolutely brilliant for baking and cooking with. Anyway, put a silicon sheet on a baking tray and put your oiled dough on there.

Chop some garlic and rosemary leaves finely

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… then scatter it over your dough, then sprinkle it with lovely crunchy salt

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You need to let the dough rise in a warmish place for half an hour or so. Cover it in greased cling flim and let it rise.

I have been known to help it by standing the baking tray on top of the soup pan. Apart from anything else it frees up bench space so you can have a quick wipe down…

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Then, when it has risen up and become puffed up and bouncy. turn the oven on to 200 degrees and while that is heating, peel back the cling film, poke the foccacia all over with your fingers and drizzle it with olive oil

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Into the oven with it for fifteen or so minutes until it is golden brown

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Let it cool just a bit and then…. serve it up. Beautiful garlic and rosemary focaccia, perfect for your soup…. in fact, just perfect.