As much as I love seafood, sometimes I miss a good piece of red meat, especially when all I’ve been eating for the last few months is seafood and vegetables. So I was on a hunt for ox tail but instead I ran into some lamb shanks. This caught me by surprise because I’m not used to seeing lamb shanks in Barbuda, so I took special care of these bad boys.

Note * Shank is the lower part of the leg, otherwise known as the shin. This cut of meat can be very flavourful but it needs to be braised in order to tenderize it. Butchers are aware of its value and even though the price per pound might seem cheap, when you take into consideration the weight of the bone, shanks can be right up there in price with cuts of meat like striploin.

Here is what you will need:

2lbs lamb shanks cut about 3 inches thick
½ cup dry kidney beans
1 ¼ cup of cooked mixed roots-eddo, sweet potato, pumpkin and carrots(left over from my previous recipe posting)
1 medium onion diced
3 cloves garlic minced
1 scotch bonnet
1 tbs tomato paste
1bunch thyme
Chopped fresh herbs(rosemary, sage, oregano, parsley)
1tbs raw sugar
1 tbs Patak’s red curry paste (optional)
Beef stock or water

First marinate your lamb shanks with olive oil, onion, garlic, seasoning salt, and chopped fresh herbs. This should sit over night for optimal enhancement.

In a cast iron skillet heat up a bit of vegetable oil (medium heat) and add in raw sugar. Allow this to brown and then add in your shanks. The sugar will help coat the shanks, help it brown, and also help other flavours stick to the shanks.

Once the shanks are brown all over transfer them to a pot with onions, garlic, thyme, tomato and curry paste and incorporate on low heat.

Add in your seasoned hot stock or water in stages. What you want to do is add in a bit of stock, wait for it to come to a boil and then add a bit more until the stock has just covered all of the shanks. Add in the scotch bonnet and the kidney beans, cover it and monitor the heat so it is slightly boiling/simmering.

This will need to cook for about an hour, and you will need to check on it to make sure the scotch bonnet is not overpowering it and to add more stock. After an hour has passed the shanks should be starting to get soft, so you will want to add in the cooked roots. Cover and let this simmer until the shanks are falling off the bone, about another half hour or so.

The shanks are only half the pleasure, the other half is in the sauce. The kidney beans, roots, and marrow would have naturally thickened the stock and made it a sauce. All I did was heat up some more of the cooked roots with a bit of spinach and rice, topped it with the lamb shank and sauce and I was in heaven. You can feed 4 people off this recipe easy. Enjoy

I’m no nutritionist, just a Chef with a very firm view on the way we should eat.  This whole low carb diet thing doesn’t sit right with me.  Carbs give you energy, point blank, end case.  Carbs also help your body produce serotonin, which is a feel-good-hormone, so on a low carb diet you are robbing your body of energy and pleasure.  Big up all my people of power, who dig to the root underneath the hoof.   I’ve created a HIGH CARB recipe to make up for all the bountiful carbs that are being left behind by the weight watchers. Here is what you will need.

Caribbean Roots and Rice

10oz Caribbean pumpkin peeled and cubed

8oz eddoes peeled and cubed

11oz sweet potato peeled and cubed

4oz carrot peeled and cubed

1 small onion diced

1 ripe plantain

1 bud of garlic

1 bunch of fresh thyme

10oz frozen spinach (no fresh spinach @ this time on this island)

10oz frozen okra (no fresh okra @ this time on this island)

15oz canned creamed corned (no fresh corn @ this time on this island)

Method:

To roast the garlic bud simply chop off the top and then season the whole bud with olive oil salt and pepper. Place it in the center of your oven on a tray for about 20-30min @ 350F until buds are cooked.  Bring the eddoes,sweet potatoes and thyme to a boil in salted water.  Follow the instructions on the package for the cooking the spinach and okra (what we call chop up).

When eddoes and potatoes are 75% cooked add in the cubed pumpkin.  Allow this mixture to lightly boil until all the ingredients are cooked but not mushy.  Strain and allow to cool.  When spinach and okra are cooked stir in the creamed corn, season and set aside.  Slice the plantain into wheels about 1/4 inch thick and caramelize in a saute pan with a bit of vegetable oil.  Now I like my roots a bit toasty so I saute them on high heat with a bit of vegetable oil,butter, diced onion and seasonings.

You could also just mix the chop up with the boiled roots to avoid any unwanted oil and fat.  Serve on a bed of your favourite rice and top with caramelized plantain and roasted garlic.  This recipe can serve 6 adults easy.  If your just cooking for 2-3 people, then save some of the boiled roots and i’ll show you what to do with the left overs in my next posting.