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Michelle Michelotti-Martinez

Greek Lamb Shanks

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Greek-Lamb-Shanks-with-Cipollini-and-Potatoes

Greek-Lamb-Shanks-with-Cipollini-and-Potatoes

Whenever I ask Enrique what special meal he wants on a Sunday, 9 times out of 10 he asks for this recipe. It really is quite the marriage of flavors and couple that with “fall off the bone tenderness” and you truly have a magical experience.

Since I know how often the request for this recipe is coming, I always have some shanks in my freezer. I have an awesome local source that makes this dish that much more amazing; gotta love these farmers and purveyors!

Another special element that highlights this dish is when I remember all the amazing lamb dishes we have had when we travel. I could eat lamb everyday and in everyway but infused with lemon, white wine, and fresh herbs is probably one of my most favorite preparations. I think for both of us, some of this fondness comes from our 8th anniversary spent in Greece.

We were on the Island of Santorini for 1 of the 2 weeks we spent in this amazing country. If you haven’t been to Santorini, you need to put it on your bucket list immediately! If you have been to Santorini, you already know how completely enchanting this island is so you won’t be surprised that we had a delightful anniversary dinner in a small, local restaurant on the second floor with our own balcony overlooking the sea. I probably could have been fed rocks and dirt and been in bliss completely due to the ambience…. but top it off with a delicious Grecian dinner and I think we probably were transported to Heaven’s main gate; in fact, I am positive we were.

The evening began with 2 appetizers of various fresh fishes, simply prepared both fried and grilled and combined with fresh herbs and local olive oil. Next was a simple salad topped with grilled Mediterranean vegetables and fresh lemon juice. I couldn’t have imagined anything could get better until they served us the lamb shank prepared in the outside wood burning oven with herbs, white wine, lemon, and olive oil. It was succulent, rich, and decadent. Dessert was fresh fruit and local cheeses. Simply divine and one of the best anniversary dinners we ever had…..

So this recipe is my interpretation of that memorable lamb dish overlooking the sea in Santorini…..try this for Valentine’s Day and transport yourself….

Greek-Lamb-Shanks-with-Cipollini-and-Potatoes

Greek-Lamb-Shanks-with-Cipollini-and-Potatoes

 

Greek Lamb Shanks
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Greek
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 4 Lamb Shanks (each about 1¼ lbs., 1 shank is a portion)
  • Parsley Leaves, lightly packed
  • 4 T Dried Oregano
  • 8 Garlic Cloves, minced
  • 4 Lemons, juiced
  • Olive Oil
  • Salt and Pepper
  • 1 Cup White Wine
  • Chicken Stock
  • 1 lb. Small Potatoes
  • 12 Cippolini Onions or 4 Sweet Onions, quartered
Instructions
  1. Squeeze lemon should be about ½ cup total
  2. In a food processor, add ½ garlic, 2 T oregano, bunch of parsley and a little oil, blend together. Rub lamb shanks with mixture, set aside.
  3. In same food processor, repeat process above. In a bowl, add onion and potatoes and toss with mixture. Add salt and pepper and set aside.
  4. Heat oven to 375
  5. Heat dutch oven and salt and pepper the shanks and then brown all over med-high heat. Add lemon juice and white wine, reduce by half.
  6. Add back shanks and add chicken broth until ½ way up sides of meat and add bay leaf. Put in oven for 1½ hours. After 1½ hours, reduce oven to 350 for another 30 minutes.
  7. Remove shanks from oven and pull out of dutch oven. Add potato onion, juices, salt, and pepper. Add back shanks and more chicken broth, if needed. Reduce heat to 325 and cook for another 1½ hours.
  8. Serve with naan and a greek salad

Posole Verde with Roasted Chicken

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Posole Verde Full View

Posole Verde with Avocado Close Up

How is it when harvesting during the fall there is a “sure” feeling that come winter all this deliciousness will run out? Yet after the holiday indulgence there seems to be PLENTLY left to fold out into winter recipes and carry us into the beginnings of growing season again. Life is so good.

A favorite New Year’s resolution for me is to make a conscious effort to cook most of our meals with ALL the yummy goodies we spent hours putting up, either by freezing or by canning. Funny, when we are going through the harvesting process we are absolutely SURE we will never forget the labor of love put in but as the months pass, somehow the time spent fades in our memory….

It was a Sunday afternoon and I went out to refresh my memory on what treasures were hidden away. As I hung over the side of my deep freezer digging away, I saw an entire box of frozen roasted tomatillo sauce I had completely forgotten about! For us, this is one of the easiest things to grow and if I didn’t figure a use, I could easily see filling another 20 jars next year….

Since we are a soup lovin family, I decided I wanted to make posole. I LOVE traditional posole but this time I wanted a bit of a change and these frozen tomatillos would be perfect! I would make posole verde and add some shredded roasted chicken and then pile on a bunch of fresh crunchies such as radish, cabbage, tomato, and avocado! I was starting to drool….it sounded so fresh and delish!

In I went and prepped the chicken to roast. While it was roasting, I pulled out some poblano chiles, jalapenos, onion, and garlic; these were the perfect sofrito for the posole. I love to get that “char” on the skins of the chile and infiltrate the broth with that flavor…ooohhhhh I was getting jazzed!

Once those flavors melded, I added the oregano and cilantro and seasoned with salt and pepper. Then came the chicken stock and hominy. It was looking awesome! Now for the star of the show, straight from our garden, the roasted tomatillo sauce, the smell brought me right back to harvest, right back to the memories of those long days preserving our garden treasures…

Lastly I put in the shredded chicken, you could leave this out and add it along with the garnishing’s on top, but I decided to marry all the flavors and fold it in. I seasoned a bit more and heated it through.

I hadn’t told Enrique what I had made so when dinnertime came, I served it up in big bowls and topped it with the fresh goodies and toasted up some fresh corn tortillas. I brought it to him and his eyes got as big as saucers, this is his soul food and when I shared that the base was all of our tomatillos, he grinned from ear to ear…….

It’s nights like this, many months later that I easily see the circle of life……

Posole Verde Close Up

Posole Verde Frontal View

Posole Verde with Roasted Chicken
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Soup
Cuisine: Mexican
Serves: 10
Ingredients
  • 1 whole chicken, roasted
  • 1 T butter
  • 8 cups chicken stock or low-sodium broth
  • 2 pounds tomatillos, husked and halved
  • 1 small onion, quartered
  • 2 poblano chiles—cored, seeded and diced
  • 2 jalapeños, seeded and diced
  • 4 large garlic cloves, smashed
  • ½ cup chopped cilantro
  • 1 tablespoon oregano leaves
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • Three 15-ounce cans of white hominy, drained
  • Finely shredded cabbage, sliced radishes, chopped onion, diced avocado, queso fresco, corn tortillas, and lime wedges, for serving
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Rinse chicken and throughly dry. Melt 1 T of butter and coat chicken and brush all over and cover with salt and pepper. Roast for 1 hour and 30 min. Remove and allow to cool and shred meat into separate bowl, discard bones and skin.
  2. Put husked tomatillos on a parchment-lined baking sheet and roast in oven for 30 minutes or until soft. Put into a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Set aside.
  3. In a large, dutch oven, heat 1 T of vegetable oil until hot. Add onion, poblanos, and jalapeños. Add oregano, cilantro, salt, and pepper. Cook until soft and chiles have a little "char" on skin.
  4. Add the tomatillo puree and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the sauce turns a deep green, about 12 minutes, Add chicken broth and hominy. Season with salt and pepper.
  5. Add the shredded chicken to the stew and cook just until heated through.
  6. Serve the posole in deep bowls, passing the cabbage, radishes, onion, avocado, queso fresco, corn tortillas and lime wedges at the table.

 

Torte di Mele (Apple Cake)

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Apple tart and sage

apple tart 2

Here we go again, posting more dessert recipes when it is supposed to be “resolution month”! Don’t we ALL say “no more sweets EVER after Christmas, EVER?” Relate? I know, guilty as charged!

I do break code with this recipe because of the simplicity, both in preparation and flavor (and because I honestly can’t resist some sweets in January). I make this torta anytime of the year and feel good about indulging, not heavy on sugar or flour and the texture of the fruit is magnificent.

I know I am prejudice but Italians really are brilliant and I LOVE their choices of desserts, enhancement at the end of a meal NOT complete gluttony. ONE of the many many reasons I am so very proud of my heritage….so tough to be so perfect…LOL

I came up with this yummy dessert after an Italian friend of mine told me about a torte di mele that her mother made back home in Milan. It sounded SO amazing and I knew I could figure a way re-create something close…at least I hoped since I hadn’t actually tasted or seen her version. What did I have to lose? Certainly, my January resolution…..

Whether it was luck or not I’ll never know but what came out of the oven was something close to sugar cookie crust topped with soft, sweet apples…..I then finished it with raw sugar and a little cinnamon. I might have been able to pass it off as breakfast of champions but that might be pushing it. Nonetheless, it was spectacular…..really spectacular.

So, it you didn’t make any resolutions or simply don’t care, make this and then eat it warm with a little vanilla gelato or mascarpone whip cream…you will thank me, I promise.

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Torte di Mele
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • 3 Golden Delicious Apples (or pears if you want), peeled and sliced thin
  • 1 lemon, juice only
  • 1 cup of flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 egg
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 1 stick of butter, melted
Instructions
  1. Peel and slice apples, put in a bowl and top with lemon juice. Stir and set aside.
  2. In a kitchen aide mixer, mix together flour, baking powder, egg, and melted butter. If it looks too thick, add some milk to thin out. It should resemble a "liquid" cookie dough but spreadable.
  3. Butter a pie or tart dish. Pour in the batter and smooth all over and up the sides. Arrange apples or pears in a spiral shape and keep layering til finished.
  4. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until crust is golden, apples won't change color much.
  5. Remove and sprinkle raw sugar and cinnamon over the top.
  6. Serve with vanilla gelato or mascarpone whip cream!

 

Filet Mignon with Bagna Cauda Butter, Sauteed Marsala Mushrooms and Sliced Baked Potatoes

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Rachie steak 1

What makes the perfect steak? Is it the accompaniments or the preparation? Is it both? Is it using a classic preparation or an innovative one?

So much to ponder…..the perfect steak. I have completely shied away from this simple yet not easy skill. For me it’s a classic preparation with innovative accompaniments. I would call this is the perfect steak or shall I say the perfect steak meal.

So why the resistance? Ummmmmm well, I am not a “grill-girl” nor do I have the perfect gas stove and oven to create the optimal cooking environment. But that is true of any of the dishes I create in my kitchen and I don’t resist them so why the “all American signature dish?”

It came clear, I was intimidated because I didn’t trust my ability to “hone in” and make it all come together, to put aside the chatter and just take the information I researched and go down into my inner chef and let her rock and roll!

It was my husband’s birthday weekend and I couldn’t think of a more perfect time. It’s in January, right after the holidays, cold and dark outside but a perfect evening for a steak palapolozza even though it is just the 2 of us….perfect time for a coming out party!

This year his birthday was on a Saturday so I had plenty of time to shop and prepare. First, I went to the butcher for the perfect cut of filet minion, 2 – 8 ounces of sheer bliss…..From there, off to my local sources for the accompaniments of potatoes, green beans, and wild mushrooms. Oh, I can’t forget the wine, my God no its my right hand to get me through this…….so down to the local wine shop for a great 2007 brunello. Now I am ready to begin the maiden voyage….let’s first start with a glass of the fabulous wine….

Since I make my own compound butters I decided to jazz up the potatoes and filets. Roasted garlic butter sounded divine for the sliced baked potatoes then top them off with fresh herbs and raclette cheese. For the filets, bagna cauda butter sounded exquisite, a wonderful combination of garlic, anchovy, and butter….the PERFECT basting sauce.

The mushrooms were calling for caramelized shallots with marsala wine and the green beans wanted to float in a garlic oil bath. I felt like a musical was happening in our house as everything was singing so incredibly together, I’m sure the wine was helping me to hear….

I set the cast iron skillet on top of the stove and preheated the oil. It was go time, everything else was prepared and done and it was the moment to cook the steaks…..I tapped my inner chef and we began…..I seasoned the filets with salt and pepper and set them down into the pan, SIZZLE….it was music to my ears……I then put in some bagna cauda butter to melt and fresh rosemary. I spooned some over the top while the filets seared and then flipped them over. So far so good (whew) and now to finish in the oven, the magical moment where it all comes together (or not) and then off to rest for 15.

I served up a beautiful presentation, the filets in the middle of a big white plate topped high with sautéed mushrooms and a terra-cotta bowl nestled alongside for the potato. Time for another glass of wine as it was the hour of truth…..

I took a bite and so did he, we looked at each other and said just one word……PERFECT……

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Potato

Filet Mignon with Bagna Cauda Butter, Sauteed Marsala Mushrooms and Sliced Baked Potatoes
 
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What makes the perfect steak? Is it using a classic preparation or an innovative one? For me it’s a classic preparation with innovative accompaniments.
Author:
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: American
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • 2 - 8 ounce center-cut tenderloin steaks, at least 2-3 inches thick
  • 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
  • 8 ounces of shitake mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 shallot, thinly sliced
  • ⅛ - ¼ cup marsala wine
  • 2 medium russet potatoes
  • 3 ounces of shredded raclette cheese, or any sharp cheese
  • bunch of parsley chopped
  • 2 heads of garlic, roasted and chopped
  • 2 sticks of butter
  • 1 small jar of anchovies, finely chopped
  • 8 cloves of garlic, minced
  • Olive oil
  • Salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Roasted Garlic:
  2. Take 2 heads of garlic and put in foil. Top with oil, salt, pepper, a few small chunks of butter. Roast at 350 for about 45 minutes or until golden. Take out of oven and remove cloves, chop.
  3. For the roasted garlic butter:
  4. Bring 1 stick of butter to room temperature, soft enough to stir with a wooden spoon.
  5. Stir in the roasted garlic, blend well.
  6. For the bagna cauda butter:
  7. Bring 1 stick of butter to room temperature, soft enough to stir with a wooden spoon.
  8. Stir in garlic and anchovies, blend well
  9. For mushrooms:
  10. In a medium saucepan on stovetop, put in 2 T olive oil and add shallots. Stir and cook until slightly caramelize. Add marsala wine and cook for 2 minutes. Add mushrooms and a little more olive oil or butter and cook until mushrooms are soft. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm.
  11. For potatoes:
  12. Preheat oven to 400
  13. Peel potatoes and rinse. Cut into thin slices but NOT all the way through and slightly spread part.
  14. Put potatoes in a baking dish
  15. Melt some of the roasted garlic butter, about 3 T, and spoon over top of potato along with salt, pepper, and herbs, getting some between each slice.
  16. Bake for 45 minutes or until done. Once or twice during cooking, spoon melted butter from the bottom of the pan over potatoes. Top with cheese and bake an additional 10 minutes.
  17. For filet minions:
  18. minutes before cooking, pull filets out and bring to room temperature. Season with salt and pepper.
  19. In a medium cast-iron skillet over medium high heat, heat 3T of olive oil until hot. Add steaks and some bagna cauda butter and 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary. Spoon some butter over top and cook for 3 minutes. Flip over, put in another area of pan for equal heat, and cook another 3 minutes and spoon over butter. Immediately place in 400 degree oven for 8 minutes. Every 3 minutes baste with butter. Remove and let rest for 15 minutes.
  20. Notes:
  21. Remaining compound butters can be stored either in a container in fridge or placed on a sheet of saran wrap and formed into a log and stored in fridge.
  22. If you want filets to be done same time as potatoes, time accordingly as they cook at same temperatures and be sure to include 15 minutes of resting time for filets.

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