Intro: I love the lamb shank because it involves my favorite French cooking technique, Braising. When you braise a lamb shank it becomes tender and creates a thin and flavorful sauce called Au Jus.
 The process is an easy one: just make sure to give yourself time to cook the lamb and don't forget to cook an accompanying starch (potatoes, etc.) to help hold the shank up in the center of the plate. 
​Note: the following recipe is for 4 guests.

4 tbsp olive oil,
4 lamb shanks seasoned with salt and pepper,
6 whole garlic cloves,
3/4 cups each of onions and carrots, peeled and roughly chopped,
4 tbsp red wine,
1 qt chicken stock,
a small handful of your favorite herbs left whole.  

1) Sear your shanks. In a large pot with almost smoking oil, carefully sear the lamb shanks, two at a time, on all sides until golden brown and then remove them and set them aside.
2) Sauté your vegetables, strain out the oil, add your red wine, reduce the wine by about half, and replace your shanks.
​3) Add chicken stock and the herbs, cover the shanks,  and let the shanks braise in a 375 degree oven for about two hours.

Searing the shanks, two at a time.

Sautéing the vegetables

4​) When the shanks are done remove them and strain and discard  the garlic, onions, carrots, and herbs. (You can tell when the shanks are done because the meat will loosen from the bones and the shanks will be tender to the touch. Also the bones will start to become ivory-colored). 
5) Skim the fat from the top of the au jus and put the shanks back in the strained au jus to keep them moist and hot. 

Ready to remove from the oven.

​Braised Lamb Shank with Au Jus over Parmesan Polenta.  

Au Jus- Braising liquid or juice.
​Braising- Method of sautéing a protein and then cooking it in its own juices along with added liquid(s). 

Deglazing definition: The method of adding liquor or wine to a pan to remove the residue of the chicken, fish, or meat that is located on the bottom of the pan.

1) You are gathering the protein's residue, which is an extremely important flavor component. 
2) You are adding the flavor of the liquor or wine that you use to deglaze.
3) You are in the beginning process of making your pan sauce. 

When you top a chicken with a sauce that is made separately from the chicken, you just can't capture the depth of flavors that you would by braising it, and letting the sauce form as the added liquid(s) reduce around the breast. (All the chicken recipes in my book use the braising technique).
After you start making à la minute sauces (AKA pan sauces) for your chicken you will probably never return to making sauces separately.  

1. On a medium heat, cook  bacon pieces until they just begin to crisp, and remove them but leave the oil in the pan. 
2. Add olive oil and increase the temperature to a high flame until the bacon fat and olive oil are almost smoking, and then add the chicken breasts and boneless legs (skin-side down and away from you).
3. Sear the breasts and legs until they are golden brown on both sides and then remove them.
4. In the same pan reduce the heat to medium and sear the mushroom caps and onions on both sides  until the onions caramelize and the mushroom  caps begin to soften. 

Rendering bacon.

Searing the mushroom caps and onions

5. Strain out the oil completely and place the chicken and bacon back in the pan.
6. Add the burgundy and demi glace, and place in a 350-degree oven until the  chicken is done.
7. Remove your chicken and mushrooms  and make your sauce. Do this by placing the pan on a high flame and add your baby carrots and thyme sprigs.
8. Let the sauce reduce (and simultaneously cook the carrots and capture the flavor of the thyme sprigs) until it is creamy in consistency. The sauce will be quite dark in color.

Reducing your sauce.

Chicken Coq au Vin

Braising- Method of sautéing a protein and then cooking it in its own juices along with added liquid(s).

​As an American, I have grown fond of yams being served with holiday meals here in the U.S. However, I am not so crazy about our common practice of topping the yams with marshmallows. I figure that yams are already naturally sweet, so why top them with candy?
 
I suggest that instead of marshmallows, yams should be topped with a peppercorn crusted rib-eye steak. The peppercorns provide  a little fruity spice that pleasantly contrasts the sweetness of the yams. Besides the benefit of nice flavors, you can serve your entrée right on the same plate as your starch which leaves more room at the table. (Of course you can serve the yams alone as a side if you wish!).
 
Note: Please make sure to get your yams started first before you cook your steaks because the yams will take longer in the oven. 
 
Below I am posting the steps involved in making both the yams and steaks. 

1) Toss the peeled and thickly sliced yams with the salt and olive oil.
2) Place them on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and cook them for forty minutes at 400 degrees.
3) Flip the yams over and rotate them so that the yams on the edges are moved toward the middle and vice versa, boost the temperature to 475 degrees, and place them back in the oven.
4) Cook them until they have a dark brown crust on top.
5) Leave them on the sheet pan and top them with the diced green onions and chopped parsley.

Yams taken from the oven and topped with onions and herbs. 

1) Chop the peppercorns and spread them evenly on one side of each steak.
2) Carefully place the rib-eyes (pepper-side down) and the mushroom caps in a heated pan with olive oil.
3) Sear the meat and mushroom caps on both sides and finish them in the oven. (Place the caps on top of the steaks so the caps don't burn).
4) Remove the meat and mushroom caps from the oven and set them aside while you finish the sauce with red wine and demi glace.

Rib eyes and mushrooms going in the oven.

​1) Stack the yam slices in the center of the plate.
2) Lean the steak on top of the yams.
3) Place the mushroom caps on top of the steak and ladle the sauce on top and around of everything. 

Side of Yams.

Steak au Poivre over Yams.

​Potatoes are ubiquitous in French cooking and are often served as a side dish or with an entrée.
An important thing to keep in mind when serving potatoes with an entrée, is that they often take longer to cook than the protein (chicken, fish, or meat) that they are served with. If this is the case, please make sure that you start the potatoes first!
Below I am posting the steps involved in making the sliced potatoes featured in my upcoming book.

​Doubloon potatoes are russet potatoes that are peeled, sliced, baked, and then stacked up in a fashion that-I think-resembles a stack of gold coins looted by pirates from a Spanish galleon. 

​1. Toss the sliced potatoes in olive oil, salt, and paprika.
2. Spread them out on the parchment-papered sheet pan and place them in the oven at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes. They should be golden brown in color.
3. Give each piece a light shake when you take them off the pan to remove any excess oil.
4. ​Dust them with  paprika and parsley as a garnish.

​Doubloon Potatoes as a side.

Doubloon Potatoes served with an entrée. 

​Intro: Bananas Flambé is a simple-to-make dessert composed of caramelized sugar and bananas topped with vanilla ice-cream.

1) Sauté  butter and sugar until blended.
2) Add  bananas and heat the mixture until the bananas are just mixed in.
3) Pull the pan off the stove, add the brandy, and carefully put the pan back on the flame. 

Brandy is added 

​4) Cook until the sauce becomes thick, and the bananas soften. The sauce should be caramel colored and creamy in consistency.
5) Top with vanilla ice-cream and serve immediately.
 

Bananas Flambé 

​As a young sauté cook working in a fancy kitchen, my biggest worry was that when I was making each entrée in the pan, and creating its accompanying sauce in the same pan, that my sauce would break and I would have to start everything over again. (As well as infuriate the chef!).
 
For example, I would beautifully sauté a filet of cod and then sweat bullets as I prepared its accompanying lemon-butter sauce in the same pan because  lemon and butter are notoriously difficult to mix together without breakage. 

Over time I have learned how to make flavorful and smooth sauces that don't easily break (without using unwanted ingredients like flour or cornstarch). For the above example, I have learned that adding a little fumet (reduced fish stock) to the lemon butter sauce at the end of the cooking process prevents breakage and also adds flavor.

Fish Fumet

1) Fumet (center) is added to lemon butter sauce to both thicken and flavor it

2) After reducing sauce, flame is shut off and  parsley is added for color

Fumet- thickened Lemon Butter Sauce is ladled on the fish filet

In my upcoming book I will walk you through all the steps involved in making delicious sauces in the same pan that you cooked your chicken, fish, or meat.  Nothing beats the flavor and quality of a freshly made sauce!   ​

​Although most of  the recipes in my upcoming book (Nov. 18th) call for the use of proteins (or animal related-products like butter and cream), there are still plenty of opportunities for the cook to feed vegans. ( I discuss this in more detail in the Menu Planning chapter).

​Vegetable stock (above)is used for Carrot Soup (below) instead of chicken stock

​Mixed fresh berries can be offered as dessert for your vegan guests.  

​Intro: I love the lamb shank because of the almost magical transformation that occurs as the shank, a cut of meat full of tough connective tissue, is slowly braised to tender perfection.
As the shank-along with herbs and vegetables-braises in the oven it creates a thin and flavorful sauce called Au Jus (literally "with juice" in French). The au jus provides a wonderful source of extra flavor for your guests to dip the lamb into.
The parmesan thickened polenta that the shrank sits on adds creaminess to the dish as well as adding little bit of a northern Italian accent to the shanks.
 

​1) Sear your shanks. In almost smoking oil, sear the lamb shanks, two at a time, on all sides until golden brown and  then remove and set them aside
2) Sauté your vegetables, strain out the oil, add your red wine and replace your shanks.

Searing your shanks, two at a time

​3) Add chicken stock and the herbs and let the shanks braise in the oven for about two hours.
4) When the shank are done remove them and strain out the garlic, onions, carrots, and herbs. (You can tell when the shanks are done because the meat will loosen from the bone and be tender to the touch. Also the bone itself will start to become ivory-colored). 

Shank pulls away from the bone: it is done

Braised Lamb Shank

​Au Jus- Braising liquid or juice.Braising- Method of sautéing a protein and then cooking it in its own juices along with added liquid(s). 

Making your roux

Stiff peaks

Cheese Soufflé garnished with paprika and herbs 

​Roux- A mixture of equal parts fat to flour that are cooked together.