Slumming It
Tonight, I'm not going to have one of those healthy alternatives. I'm really slumming it. About as bad as you can get. Dominos. From a technical point of view I really have to appreciate their online ordering system, pick, build or customize your pizzas, sides add a voucher code and the system goes and checks your local store to see if they have the capacity to take your order. When they do the order is placed and a pretty accurate timer starts to count down from when the order is placed, to it being made, baked and delivered. The only time it gets a bit whackey is when you ask for the pizza to be delivered at a specific time. Sure it gets delivered pretty much ton time but it doesn't show you when they've started to make it onwards.
It obviously doesn't check the store's stock levels, a few minutes after I placed my order I got a phone call from the store telling me they'd run out of the thin and crispy bases and asked if I'd like classic instead. I didn't really, but what choice did I have? I'd decided to try the new "7 meats" and "chicken feast". No doubt I could have made these taste a thousand times better and with a thousand times less fat but when you're tired and don't want to get off the couch can you blame me?
Thei chicken feast was quite bland, just the slightest hint of flavour from the capsicum and so was the 7 meats for that matter, just the saltiness from cheap bacon. I got what I expected. Nothing but that sick full feeling and the thought I should have just had a sandwich.
Dominos Seven Meats
Pizza
Plum and Hazelnut Torte
Bowl of Angena Plums
Plum and Hazelnut Torte -
Serves 8 or more
700g of Plums, quartered and pitted
1 Cup of Sugar
¾ Cup of Hazelnuts
1¼ Cup of Flour
¼ teaspoon of Salt
1½ teaspoons of Baking Powder
½ teaspoon of Allspice
¾ Cups of Butter
3 large Eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
Preheat your oven to 175°C. Butter and flour a 9" spring form cake
tin.
Quarter and pit plums.
Coarsely chop half of plums and in a bowl toss with 2 tablespoons
sugar. In another bowl combine remaining plums with 2 tablespoons
sugar. The chopped plums will go into the batter, and the quartered
plums will decorate the top. On a baking sheet in middle of oven
lightly toast hazelnuts until fragrant and insides are golden, 10
to 15 minutes. Put all of the nuts into a clean tea-towel and rub
them together to remove the burnt loose papery skins and when cool,
grind them in a food processor until fine.
In a bowl whisk together
hazelnuts, flour, baking powder, salt, and allspice. In a bowl with
an electric mixer beat butter and remaining ¾ cup sugar until light
and fluffy, the colour will change to a very pale yellow. Add eggs,
1 at a time, beating after each addition, and beat in vanilla and
flour mixture until batter is just combined. Note, add the flour to
the batter, and not the other way around.
Drain chopped plums in a
sieve, pressing on fruit, and pat dry with paper towels. Stir plums
into batter and spread evenly in pan.
Drain quartered plums in
sieve, pressing on fruit, and arrange, skin sides up, over batter.
Bake torte in middle of oven 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until golden
brown and a tester comes out clean. Cool torte in pan on a rack 30
minutes. Remove side of pan and cool completely.
Curry Dusted Sea Scallops with Roasted Beetroot Salad and Baby Pea Puree
I'll admit, tonight I cheated and bought the roast beetroot salad from David Jones, but it seems fairly simple to make. It just looks like carrots, beetroot and new potato all diced to bite sized chunks and roasted together in a foil jacket with a splash of either chicken stock, white wine or verjuice until tender (I guess 180°C for 20 minutes and check for tenderness). I really just got it for colour and texture contrast from the rest of the dish. Having served this with them I really think it needs the balance, it would have missed something with out it.
Curry Dusted Scallops with Baby Pea Puree -
Serves 2
300g frozen baby peas
2 spring onions, sliced finely
Knob of butter
Squeeze of fresh lime juice
8 Sea Scallops without roe
2 teaspoons of curry powder
Salt & pepper to taste
Boil the peas in some lightly salted water until done and drain of
almost all of the water. Add the spring onions, butter, salt and
pepper and whiz in a blender or with a stick mixer until a rough
puree is formed, taste and add lime juice enough to give the mix a
slight sharp and fresh taste.
Mix the curry powder and salt together on a plate and roll all of
the scallops in the mix until they're evenly coated and fry off in
a hot pan with butter for 1 minute on each side.
Plate with a few spoonfuls of the pea puree on a plate, topped with
the beetroot salad and finally the scallops.
Serve with a dry white wine such as the
2007 Vasse Felix Classic Dry White from
the Margaret River I
had. It's a very nice light white wine with a subtle passionfruit
flavour.
Manly Grill - One of the best cheeseburgers in Sydney
The thing that, as always, makes it for me is the
demeanor of the staff, if it's not service with a smile, it's
not service. Sure, may be it had more to do with the beautiful day
or the incredible shirtless scenery walking past every 3 seconds
(which in all honesty is why I went to Manly instead of Newtown)
than it did with me but who cares, it makes a difference. These
people smiled and they genuinely seemed happy to take my order.
Which brings us to the menu. Manly grill prides it self on the two
things that any restaurant in this sort of location should, it's
seafood and it's beef. While it was the perfect day for seafood
such as their enormous $120 seafood platter which is well worth the
money from what I could see around me. It would serve 2 Americans,
or 4 normal people. I opted for a plain and simple cheeseburger,
served with shoestring fries and homemade coleslaw.
What I got though was far from a standard cheeseburger, it was
simple, just the basics, but that's what you want from a
cheeseburger. The beef on this thing was fantastic. 200 day grain
fed Black Angus from the
Southern
Highlands. No wonder it tasted good. There was a little surpise
with the buns too, they were char grilled like the burger, the
underside had thick and dark scorched lines which gave a much
appreciated smokey flavour that, I'm guessing, came from a charcoal
grill given the unique taste. As for the sides, the fries were
expertly cooked, pale yet hot and crispy. No sign of McCain, and
the coleslaw was very high quality if a little limp from being
under a heat lamp a fraction too long (or the 30°C sunshine).
This is a good quality restaurant, in a top location, so do expect
to pay for what you get, unlike some other restaurants on this
strip. For my burger, two pepsi max and a bottle of perrier, the
bill came to a fraction over $35.00
Food, 8/10 - I'd have liked a small salad in place
of the large quantity of fries, otherwise, it was
extraordinary
Service, 8.5/10 - Always a smile, always attentive
and efficient
Value, 8/10 - Perhaps a touch over priced for a
cheeseburger
Location, 8.5/10 - Hard to beat in Manly
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Monteith's Radler and Summer Ale
As I mentioned before, the Summer Ale is somewhat of a ginger beer, or a beer with a zesty ginger flavour at any rate. It's fairly different from any other beer I've had and is a great change of pace. Tossing in a slice of lime, lemon or even orange really changes the character of this beer, making it an entirely new flavour, taking away some of the zing of the ginger but keeping it in the background.
As for the Radler, it's like a Corona with a slice of lime added, but with out having to add the lime. Of the two it's the more refreshing and for today's sudden sun and warmth it was perfect for a mid afternoon refresher.
Coffee, Steak, Garden Salad and Beer some how work well in one meal
The general gist of the recipes went along the lines of grinding coffee with any combination of chili, coriander seeds, mustard seeds. fennel, salt, pepper, oregano and anything else you've got in your spice draw.
I used a broken up Illy
coffee pod, maldon sea salt, cinnamon, black pepper, mustard
seeds, coriander seeds and dried oregano. After I ground the spices
I drizzled the steak in olive oil and coated it with the spices and
grilled until medium rare. I tossed together a quick garden salad
with an olive oil and whole grain mustard.
On the side I had a Monteith's
Summer Ale, from New Zealand, which is a quite nice summer ale
that's got a lovely ginger kick to it which in turn leaves a nice
warmth on the palate. The bottle suggests a wedge of lime that
gives it a little bit heavier than a Corona mouthfeel and taste, but it also
suggests an orange segment. Damn I wish I had an orange to try this
with. All round, a great beer that's something different from the
rest and well worth a try.
Whisk & Pin Dried Fruit Salad
The quality of dried fruit tends to be more about what you don't get than what you do. No moisture, no preservatives, no sulfur and nothing and I mean nothing but fruit. This is top quality produce. On top of that, these are all Australian and you can mail order them too! Also in the Whisk and Pin lineup is a range of organic pre-mixes for breads and pancakes as well as muesli and single varieties of dried fruit. If this fruit salad is anything to go by the rest will be fantastic.
Sofitel Brisbane - Overwhemlingly Under-whelmed
Sofitel Looking from Post Office Square and across Anzac
Square
By no means was Michelle from the front
desk the only pleasant and friendly staff member at the Sofitel.
The staff in the club lounge were excellent, happy and cheerful and
even remembered Miles and I when we came back over a month after
our first visit. Heck, they even smiled while they cleaned up the
plate of scrambled eggs Miles dropped on the floor half asleep one
morning. Speaking of the scrambled eggs, the club lounge breakfasts
are quite nice in their own right; they have all of the basics, but
then, only the basics. Fronting up for breakfast are scrabbled
eggs, mushrooms & bacon in the bain-marie and a good selection
of fruit, yoghurt, and a few cereals and juices and some pastries;
plus champagne on weekends. I’d liked to have seen more but I’m
happy with what they provided. I guess if they did have more no one
with access to the club lounge would fork out the $30 for the
“interactive” breakfast at Thyme² which had everything from eggs
benedict to custom made omelettes.
Club
Lounge Breakfast at the Sofitel Brisbane
Evening drinks and canapés at the club
lounge were much better than the breakfasts, a good selection of
cold items, sushi, an antipasti platter, petit fours and some warm items
ranging from samosas, spring rolls,
curry puffs etc (two different hot items per night, cold items are
the same). The hot food again wasn’t anything extraordinary, all
from a packet, but I guess the fact that there were free wines,
beers and spirits made up for it considering the prices at the
Cuvee Bar downstairs. The view on dusk can't be beat too! The club
lounge is a perfect way to start an evening and I would highly
recommend a visit here.
Lower Level of the Club Lounge
Upper Level of the Club Lounge
As for the $6 million dollar upgrade of
the hotel recently; the lobby,
restaurant and bar as well as the club
lounge were extensively upgraded and a quite nice with clean
lines and lots of natural materials, the rooms though need some
improvement. Sofitel has a concept called “myBed”
which is meant to provide a night sleep that will change your life
forever, apparently. I understand what they’re trying to achieve,
most beds in Australia have hard and overly firm mattresses, but
really what you need is a fairly soft mattress that will conform to
your body and support it, the bed I have at home is like that and
it’s like sleeping in a warm hug. What I got out of the beds here
were sore necks and shoulders and the feeling that all of the
mattresses were worn out, less like a hug and more like a school
camp.
The
corner suite we stayed in on the first visit seemed quite tired
despite the new furnishings while the
club room I stayed in the second time suffered less; though it
could have used thicker walls. The couple in the room next to us
seemed to enjoy their room quit a lot. They enjoyed it at 3:00am,
again at 3:30, 8:30 and 9. They enjoyed it so much that the bottle
of water on MY bedside table fell off.
On the whole I’m disappointed with the Sofitel Brisbane,
particularly because the few times I’ve stayed in their Melbourne and Sydney counterparts I’ve
never had a problem, the beds were huge and comfortable, the staff
were excellent and the food was great and well priced. The Sofitel
Brisbane is definitely the poor cousin to their bigger city family.
When I head north again in a couple of weeks I think I’ll try the
Hilton but I’m
worried that like the Sofitel, it’s going to be suffering from it’s
hurried Expo ’88 construction
and lack of a through refurbishment since. I really am worried that
the Sofitel Brisbane may still well be the best on offer. If the
Hilton doesn’t prove any better Miles is going to have to start
coming down here instead. I’ve got a more comfortable bed, a
quieter room and better food at home.
Thyme² & the Cuvee Bar @ the Sofitel Brisbane
Let’s start with the Cuvee Bar. Every bar everywhere has an unwritten etiquette to follow and it’s always different but not unreasonable and usually boils down to how the manager of the establishment likes his or her staff to act, and that’s it – it’s a guide for the staff, not the patrons. May be it was me, I made the place look untidy or something, but if a customer wants to order a drink from the bar here, they’re promptly dismissed and told to take a seat before an order will be taken. Even if I try making an order I’m still told to take a seat for the waiter to come and take my order. It’s down right rude and even worse; the wait-staff aren’t very knowledgeable with their drinks unlike the bartender I had questions for who told me to go and sit down. Is your apple martini sour or sweet? Could I get a twist of lime instead of lemon? Would you mind not straining the ice from my cocktail? Every question the wait-staff gets that look puppies do when you poke your tongue out at them. Once they scamper off to ask the bartender, they come back and you have a follow-up question. The routine continues until you give up and say “I’ll just have a gin and tonic then” or your presented with a drink you didn’t want and it takes you a few sips to realise that the inept wait-staff have bought you the another table’s drinks; and their bill!
When you finally get your order, the way you want it, it’ll be easier to pay cash than try and charge the drinks to your room. I know it wasn’t this guys first time charging drinks to a room, he’d served me before, but from my seat you could tell he was struggling.
Thyme² is mainly setup for a buffet or as the Sofitelians like to call it, an ‘interactive experience'. I’ve mentioned before that the breakfasts there are great, for $30, serving you everything you’d want in a breakfast. The dinners seem to be the same. Miles and I didn’t have the buffet dinner when we were there, we did see it though. Couples with children, like seagulls taking turns ferrying overflowing plates of oysters, prawns and everything else they could scavenge back to their offspring. For $80 a head (wine not included) if you’ve got the mentality to eat your monies worth its probably good value but we felt like something smaller, so we went for the ala carte menu.
You can tell head chef Marshall Orton has planned for 90% of his clientelé to take the buffet option; it sure looked like they did. I only saw two other tables out of the full restaurant ordering off the menu and a queue for the seafood. The menu is short and has fairly simple dishes from and nothing you wouldn’t expect to see at a pub with the obligatory pad thai, t-bone with chips, fish (roast snapper) and a tandori chicken. It all seemed fairly pedestrian with only Miles’s meal served with any restaurant flare and by that I mean everything was stacked on top of each other. The current menu can be found on the website.
One nice touch was the appetizer that was served to us, a small ball of duck confit and orange marmalade served on a bed of lettuce. It tasted quite bland an uninteresting, but as it turns out they forgot the orange marmalade on ours. This wasn’t the only thing that was missing from the dishes we were served either. I ended up ordering the t-bone with “a roast tomato ragu and a creamy pepper sauce served with shoestring french fries”. The roast tomato ragu at least had tomato in it but it was just roughly diced fresh tomato in a warmed up pasta sauce – there was no way these tomatoes could have ever seen the inside of an oven; there wasn’t even the slightest hint of caramlisation any good roasted tomato has. The fries seemed to be of the McCain variety, either deep fried at too low a temperature or were left to defrost and get laden with water leaving them soggy. The pepper jus that was served was honestly very nice, rich thick and concentrated with steak, balsamic vinegar and rosemary flavours and would have gone very well with the roasted tomato ragu, if it had had roast tomato in it. Note that I said it was a pepper jus and not a creamy pepper sauce? Guess what was missing. I find it difficult to believe that a restaurant of this size and supposed calibre can deliver very basic dishes so far removed from the menu.
Miles also had the beef. A 120 day grain fed Darling Downs beef filet served with Parisian style butter on green beans and a potato cake. It was well presented, stacked a good six inches high with the same jus that accompanied my steak, minus the pepper, drizzled around the side. The report on it was generally positive, although the potato was a little under done.
To counter balance the average food were some excellent wines, chosen by the Sommelier, Toby Graham, to fill out the wine list. For the main I chose an ‘04 Wantirna Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot (List Price $112, Store Price $60-$70). The wine itself is quite nice and is more complex than you’d expect from just a Cab Sav Merlot, and that’s probably because there’s actually some Cab Franc and Petit Verdot in the bottle too. Overall, the wine has a nice blackcurrant to mulberry flavour with the classic merlot dusty finish. If you’re looking for it in a store, Wantirna Estate is the one with the Michael Leunig cartoons on the labels.
When it came to dessert, I wanted a bottle of something else to go with our Lenôtre Frambrosier’s so I asked Toby for a recommendation. There was the obligatory Noble One, but I thought that the overpowering honey in it would kill the delicate raspberries and cream in the dessert, Toby agreed and recommended the 2005 Grande Maison Semillon Sauvignon Blanc Muscadelle from Monbazillac in France (List Price, $51/375mL, Store price $30/375mL). I found that it had soft hay-like flavour, not grassy at all, it was drier and warm but with a definite floral sweetness that worked well with the dessert.
The Sofitel, being owned by the French Accor group have enlisted, under license, Lenôtre to provide desserts and cakes for its hotels, they look stunning, particularly the signature Frambrosier, which looks like a giant pink lamington topped with fresh raspberries and a raspberry sugar swirl. Within the gayest dessert of all time are layers of sponge cake with a raspberry centre, covered in cream and then a pink coconut (I think it’s pink coconut anyway). Given that it’s a sponge cake with cream and a raspberry centre I was expecting something more like a molleaux which is an individual cake that has a liquid sauce centre that spills out across the plate when you cut into it. The frambrosier certainly had the potential for it. I’m still not sure if what we got was meant to be a molleaux because they were half frozen. The bottom and centre were practically solid with the top had just started to soften. I don’t know if you’ve ever frozen cream but it doesn’t work – large ice crystals form and when you cut into it, it splinters apart. At the very least, these desserts should be served only slightly chilled to show their true potential, and meet their hype.
The highlight of Thyme² has got to be Toby Graham’s wine list and the quite knowledgeable service he provides. Toby has been studying and working with wines for over 15 years and answered all of our questions quickly and with confidence, not only suggesting wines but explaining why he’d suggested them which for mark-ups like these is great because he can help narrow down the choices for you – sure all sommeliers should do this, it’s their job, but Toby does it well.
Up Stairs, Down Stairs
Saying that though it still beats being downstairs with the commoners fighting for a bottle of Mount Franklin and the last Whopper. At least here they form an orderly queue to fight for the last re-heated deep fried, umm... I guess it's meant to be a pork dumpling? It's too big for a wonton and it's the wrong shape for a dim sim. Who knows, it was full of reclaimed pork what ever it was.
My flight out, QF548, after boarding at least (the attendant that
was relegated to Y Class was quite rude)
was splendid under the Cabin Manager I flew with, Julianne. This is
the second or third time I've had the privilege of flying with her
and I hope I'll be able to again. Service in the business cabin was
smooth, efficient and personable, as I'd mentioned before - the
simple things of being called by name are the things that really
make the difference between service and quality that despite it's
industry reputation, factions of Qantas flight crew are actually
striving to achieve.
As for the meal, my seat buddy Corey and I we were served a
reasonable beef in oyster sauce with jasmine rice and a 'salad'. I
say 'salad' because it only just qualified as one. In my opinion a
salad needs two ingredients and this only had two different types
of lettuce. The spicy asian vinaigrette from Neil Perry that went with it was
wonderful, I even put some on the beef because the sauce that had
was quite plain. I was actually surprised with the bread roll, it
was incredibly soft. I guess Qantas realised they shouldn't arm
200+ passengers with their previous hard as a brick projectiles.
The wine was quite nice too - a 2004 Penfolds Shiraz with a deep cherry
note.
Hartley's Goosebery Jam
I wouldn't be in a hurry to buy another jar, probably more because I hardly eat jam in the first place but I'll keep an eye out for a better quality or a home made gooseberry jam next time.
BBQ Corn and Bean Salad
Roasted Corn and Edamame Salad - Serves
2 as a main, 4 as a side
2 ears fresh corn, unhusked, or
1¼ cups cooked corn kernels
½ cup shelled edamame
¼ cup chopped red onion
¼ cup small-diced red bell pepper (capsicum)
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh cilantro (coriander)
1 tablespoon light mayonnaise
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1½ teaspoons finely chopped or grated ginger
⅛
teaspoon salt
⅛
teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Soak fresh corn in cold water about 30 minutes.
Heat grill on high. Grill corn in husk, 10 to 15 minutes, turning
once.
Let cool. Remove husks. Cut corn from cob into a bowl; combine with
remaining ingredients.
Cover and chill in refrigerator until ready to serve.
Sorry Rick, I'm not impressed with Steak Tartar
I used $36 worth of the best quality beef I could find, the freshest eggs, the most expensive cornishons and salted capers and I tell ya what, the best part was the fries. Alright, it wasn't bad, but at the same time my taste buds weren't leaping off my tongue to lick the plate clean. If I ever get the chance to eat steak tartar prepared by Rick Stein I'd give it a go again but I won't be tracking him down.
Nothing against Rick by any means, I've made a number of his dishes previously and they are quite nice but I guess, would you trust a hairdresser having a bad hair day, or a seafood chef not even cooking steak? If anyone can tell me what I did wrong, please let me know...
Steak Tartar - Serves 2
300g beef sirloin, chilled
1 tablespoons of capers, rinsed and drained
2 shallots, finely chopped
2 tablespoons of flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 tablespoons of olive oil
3 cornishons, diced
3 dashes of tabasco sauce
½ teaspoon of sea salt
1 teaspoon of ground black pepper
2 egg yolks
Pommes frites (french fries) on the side
Trim the meat of all fat and sinew and chop finely, don't use a
processor. Put all of the ingredients except the eggs into a bowl
and mix together. Shape the meat on the plate and make an indent in
the middle for the egg yolk
Buttermilk Roast Chicken
I didn't measure anything tonight
because I really couldn't be bothered but to be I think I'd need to
add more cumin next time. Looking back, I think I played it safe
with the cumin and added 1tsp instead of 2. It needs 2. I think a
whole butterflied chicken in this marinade would be sensational,
but as Nigella said, to make everything faster for her 'Express'
book. As far as roasting the drumsticks go, I think I piled them
too closely on the oven tray so they didn't get evenly browned, I
should have turned them or out them on a rack to keep them out of
the juice collecting in the tray.
Nigella meant for this to be eaten cold at a bbq, picnic or
something like that and having them for lunch cold the next day was
great, but hot for dinner, they were good too.
Buttermilk Roast Chicken - Serves 6
12 chicken drumsticks
500mL Buttermilk
60mL vegetable oil
2 cloves of garlic, bruised
1 tablespoon of Peppercorns, crushed
1 tablespoon of Maldon Sea Salt
1 teaspoons fresh ground cumin (her recipe says 1, I think it needs 2)
1 tablespoon of maple syrup
Pre-heat oven to 220°C. Put everything except the chicken into a large freezer bag and mix well. Add the chicken and roll around until it's all coated. Leave for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours (no more, or the acid in the buttermilk will deteriorate the meat too far).
Roast for at least 30 minutes until everything is cooked and the chicken skin is scorched and burnt in places.
The Worst Breakfast Ever
We found our table at 'Northern Bites'
on Manly's South Styne beachfront by walking past a row of cafes
and went to the one that smelt the nicest, I think we smelt some
french toast. I wish one of us had ordered it but cést la vie. I
hate to start a review so poorly, but there were so very few good
things to say about our experience here, what was good had more to
do with the scenery walking past to and from the surf carnival that
was on that day. It took 20 minutes for someone to take our order
and another 20 more minutes for my coffee to arrive which I'd
finished by the time my food did and Mel's meal didn't arrive until
after I'd finished eating mine. Appalling.
Of my big breakfast, everything was cold, except the baked beans
(cutely serviced in an espresso cup), and some how, even though the
food had been cold, the butter hadn't warmed up from being taken
out of the fridge. The hash brown was from a packet and so was the
bread. It's very disappointing because it still cost in the order
of $17 when the cafés on the same block had similar meals with
potato rosti, organic sourdough and organic lamb sausages... There
really wasn't anything to say that stood out from that meal, I
stopped eating half way through. Heck, they even just served slices
of tomato instead of the grilled tomato everywhere else does.
Saturday morning breakfasts are meant
to be a casual affair, but if it was any more casual I'd still be
waiting. Again, I'm sorry to sound so negative about it, but the
excuse were given about why Mel's eggs benedict being an hour was
because the guy they went to Coles to *BUY* the hollandaise sauce
hadn't come back yet. What cafe BUYS hollandaise sauce, and then
admits it to their customers? Even though I got mine faster 15
minutes before Mel, my food was only just warm, to the point that
the fat had started to congeal.
Food, 3/10 - their big breakfast had everything
you'd expect, but the lowest quality possible
Service, 2/10 - only because two of the waiters
were good looking, and one of them very obviously wasn't wearing
underwear
Coffee, 5/10 - it arrived 20 minutes after I
ordered but it was hot and good quality
Value, 1/10 - I'd only give a zero if they took my
money and didn't feed me
Location, 8/10 - nothing you couldn't have gotten
from anywhere else on the street
It's only saving grace was the coffee and location, but I am sure
any other cafe on the beachfront in Manly could do better
Jacket Baked Lamb Shanks
This isn't my favourite shank recipe, which I couldn't find the day I wanted to make these, so I used what I had from Jamie Oliver's book, "Cook with Jamie". It's simple food, even though the recipe can look daunting to read for the inexperienced but it boils down to inserting a knife along the bone of the shank to make a small finger sized pocket to stuff a herb butter, then wrapping each shank individually in foil with a medely of diced veg under them (and a splash of white wine). The best part of this is that even though it takes 2.5 hours to cook, your house absolutley fills with a glorious smell of roast lamb from about 20 minutes in. If I knew more people in my apartment building I'm sure I'd have had them knocking on the door to invite themselves over for dinner.
Time did get away from us a bit, stuck in project work (yeah right - more like the wine) so the vegetables were over done. I think next time I'll have more veg and cut them bigger so they hold up to the long roast better.
If you're going to make these for a dinner party, wrap the foil parcels neatly and serve them intact to your guests so they can cut them open to get the full whaft of intensley smelling steam as it bursts out.
My favourite recipe for lamb shanks though, which I will detail another time, has the whole meaty shanks slow roasting in thick soup of tomato and mined vegetables. The soup keeps them incredebly moist at the same time as injecting the meat with flavour. They end up so tender you have to take them out with a spoon to stop them from falling apart!
Incredible Baked Lamb Shanks - Serves 4
(via How to Cook by Jamie Oliver)
6 Springs of fresh rosemary
150g Butter
15 Fresh sage leaves
2 Springs of fresh thyme
Salt and Pepper
4 Lamb shanks
12 Cloves of garlic
2 Large carrots
1 Onion
1 Leek
2 Glasses of white wine
Preheat your oven to 200C/400F. Pick all of the leaves off the herbs and put in a blender with the butter and whiz together, season with salt and pepper. Using small sharp knife and slide it between the bone and the meat to form a finger shaped pocket in all of the shanks and stuff as much of the herbed butter into the pocket. This will fill the heart of the shank with flavour.
Dice all of the vegetables and douse with oil and season with salt and pepper. Mix well and on four sheets of foil, share out the veg and place a shank on top of each pile. Make a boat shape with the foil and pour a quarter of a glass of wine in each foil boat. Wrap the foil tightly around the shanks and vegetables. Put all of the parcels on a tray and bake in the oven for 2.5 hours.
Serve the intact parcels to each guest so they can open them their selves.