Curing the common cold – lamb shanks and hot toddies.

I don't get ill very often, but when I do I'm pretty pathetic. In the last few weeks everyone's been ill; My other half, my nephew, everyone at work. It was inevitable it would get me at some point. So come Friday I was bunged up, grumpy and generally feeling out of sorts. This is how I deal with it:

Day One: Pretend you're not ill. Go to work, power through, and just moan at anyone who'll listen.

Day Two: Take to the couch in a melodramatic fashion. Leave the house only to buy tinned chicken soup, vitamin C supplements and pain killers. Watch films from under a duvet, then have a hot toddy and go to bed in a grump.

 

Trying to cure the cold/flu

Day Three: Have a word with yourself. You've had enough wallowing time, now pull yourself together, and cook yourself out of your slump. Make soup and something really stodgy and lovely. You're still full of the cold and unlikely to be able to taste any of it, but that's not the point. (Do make sure you factor in plenty of time for hot lemon with honey etc.)

Lamb shanks in red wine with spring onion mash, carrots and kale.

It's a bit dark this picture isn't it?

For what you get in a lamb shank they are pretty cheap. They used to be much cheaper, but have become more fashionable. In a round about way, it'll do us two meals too.

First toss the lamb in some seasoned flour and brown it off in a hot pan. You don't necessarily need to add flour, but I find it helps to thicken the sauce a bit. You want the meat to have a decent colour all over it.

Put the lamb in a big casserole dish. I dream of a Le Creuset dish or equivalent which can go straight in the oven! But don't have one at the moment.

Slice a couple of red onions and two cloves of garlic and fry that off in the same pan you did the meat in then add them to the casserole.

De-glaze the pan with a bit of red wine to get any sticky bits off the bottom then add it to the casserole, along with another large glass of red wine, and a pint of stock (chicken or vegetable).

Mix in a tablespoon of tomato puree, and season with some salt and pepper. Then stir in some sprigs of rosemary, thyme and a bay leaf or two. 

Cover it and stick in a low oven for at least two hours at 150 degrees. It's done when the lamb just pulls away from the bone. For the last half an hour take the lid off so the juices reduce a little bit. I turned the meat once or twice to keep it moist.

Before...

Mine ended up being in for about three hours, as my Mum and Dad came round. It's a very forgiving recipe though...

After....

For the mash... er, make mash. Boiled potatoes, plenty of butter, a touch of cream and milk. To make spring onion mash stir in some finely chopped spring onions.

The sauce should be really rich, so I'm keeping the veg simple with big piles of restorative steamed kale and carrots.

What to do with the leftovers:

There ought to be loads of lovely sauce, and it transforms into the most amazing ragu-like sauce for pasta mid week. Once it's cooled just take any bits of fat off the top. Any bits of lamb leftover (our shanks were enormous... I do love my butcher) just pull it apart so it's almost shredded. Put your pasta on, heat up the sauce (and any shredded bits of lamb) and add a load of fresh spinach and halved cherry tomatoes. Pour the pasta into the sauce and stir it through on the heat for a minute or two and its ready to eat. Amazing midweek dinner, and makes your lamb shanks seem like really good value for money.

My hot toddy recipe (no idea if it's authentic):

- Put one measure of whisky in a mug. It doesn't have to be the nicest in the world, but something half decent will do.

- Take a slice of lemon and half it. Squeeze the juice out of one half of the slice into the whisky. Stick a couple of cloves into the other half of it and put that in the whisky.

- Top up with water that boiled a couple of minutes ago then add a teaspoon of honey. Give it a good stir and drink it while it's still quite hot.

Yum. It soothes the throat, and knocks you out. What's not to love?