Tuscan baby back ribs, a great addition to any Sunday family lunch. At its simplest, salt and pepper are added after cooking.
Serves many
Time: 🕰🕰
Effort: 💪
Baby back ribs
Salt
Pepper
Rosemary
1. Cook ribs in pre-heated oven at 220’c for 30 minutes, with sprigs of rosemary on top, touching the fat
2. Move to top rack of oven to broil for a few more minutes
3. Alternatively, cook on coals, or BBQ
4. Add salt and pepper and serve
the name of the dish (tagine, طاجن) comes from the name of the pot in which it is cooked. A cast iron pot/cocotte comes in very handy as a substitute. The uniqueness of the dish is that the contents are transformed by steaming and pressure-cooking, rather than braising or boiling. Multiply servings below depending on how big the feast is. Serve with fluffy couscous ⠀
Serves 2
Time: 🕰🕰🕰
Effort: 💪💪
1 lamb shank (we got ours from @feathernbonehk happy valley)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 onion
1/2 carrot
1/2 zucchini
1/2 tomato
3 new potatoes
1 handful of green peas
Olive oil
1. Defrost lamb shank
2. Coat bottom of cocotte or tagine pot with a few tablespoons of olive oil
3. Add lamb and all seasoning and spices and mix well
4. Place cocotte on flame, add 3 tablespoons of water, then cover and infuse for 10 minutes on medium-low heat without browning the lamb
5. Meanwhile, peel and cut potatoes into quarters
6. Cut onion into small chunks
7. Cut carrots and zucchini into large sticks
8. Cut tomato into small cubes
9. Open lid — the flavours should be well amalgamated
10. Sprinkle onion on the bottom of cocotte, with direct contact with the juices
11. Layer carrots and zucchini in a circular pattern, pointing to the centre, like setting up a campfire
12. Fit in potatoes between the carrot and zucchini sticks
13. Place tomatoes in the centre, on top of the shank, to keep it moist
14. Sprinkle with green peas
15. Add half a glass of hot water down the sides
16. Bring to boil
17. Drizzle with olive oil
18. Cover and cook on a low flame for 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours, until lamb is tender
19. Serve with fluffy couscous
We’re sure there are protected recipes of this dish, but for an informal weeknight meal, this could be whipped up with little attention and a large margin of error. We made this without usual ingredients such as mushrooms, bay leaf, thyme, pearl onions, burgundy red, chicken blood, and used very cheap whiskey (from corner store) instead of cognac, and the dish still felt complete.
Serves 2
Time: 🕰🕰🕰
Effort: 💪💪
Chicken thigh, deboned
2 glasses of chianti
Salt and pepper
1/3 carrot
1/2 onion
3 shallots from wet market
2-inch section of fennel stalk
1 tablespoon flour
1 small knob butter
2 bacon strips
1 tablespoon of contents of canned tomato
Chopped coriander
1. Wash chicken thigh and place in a small zip lock bag
2. Fill with red wine, salt, pepper, and leave to marinate — the longer the better
3. In a dry pan without any oil, brown bacon on both sides; set aside
4. Add butter to the pan
5. Take chicken out from marinate, pat very dry and brown on both sides, mopping up the brown residues at the bottom of the pan
6. While browning the chicken, chop carrots, onions, and fennel stalk, and add to one side of the pan
7. Sprinkle flour onto the vegetables, mix
8. Remove chicken; set aside; continue to brown vegetables until sticky and burnt but not black
9. Deglaze bottom of pan with a bit of red wine 🍷
10. Once red wine almost gone, add a splash of whisky and either flambé or cook off the alcohol
11. Add the entirety of the red wine marinade and also the spoonful of canned tomato contents to the pan
12. Cut bacon into slices and add two-thirds to the pan
13. Add chicken to the centre of the pan
14. Simmer, covered, for 1 hour
15. Meanwhile, peel and quarter shallots and caramelise with butter
16. Once the hour is up, add two-thirds of the shallots and the remainder of the bacon to the pan and give it a good stir
17. Plate with sauce, then chicken, then more sauce
18. Garnish with remaining caramelised shallots and some chopped coriander
19. Serve with good, toasted bread
The wonderful bread we got as a gift from @my_bakingjournal is the soul of this dish. Thank you so much!
Serves 2
Time: 🕰🕰🕰
Effort: 💪
200g dry cannellini beans
1 clove garlic in skin
Sage or rosemary
Onion, celery, carrot
1L water
Salt, pepper, olive oil
Excellent toasted bread
1. Boil cannellini beans with a pinch of salt and the water (1 to 5 ratio) for 2 hours, until beans are soft but not mushy
2. Finely mince onion, celery, carrot to form around half a mug
3. Sweat in olive oil to form a soffitto (mirepoix)
4. Blend two thirds of the cannellini beans with the cooking water; set aside remaining third
5. Combine blended beans and the soffitto
6. Season with salt and pepper
7. Divide into dishes
8. Place a piece of toasted bread in the middle of each bowl 9. Spoon the unblended beans over the toast
10. Lightly season the beans
11. Drizzle olive oil on beans and serve
Who knew these cuties would taste so good cooked? All #locallygrown
Serves 2
Time: 🕰🕰
Effort: 💪
Bunch of radish
1 garlic clove
1 endive
Salt
Pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
Grated pecorino cheese
1. Preheat oven to 220’c
2. Wash radishes
3. Cut the top and tails off (take as little off as you can); save for stock or risotto
4. Cut in halves
5. Mix with olive oil, salt, pepper and roast in the oven in a roasting tray
6. Meanwhile, cut endive in half and drizzle with olive oil
7. Slice garlic clove into thin slices
8. Once radishes have been in for 20 minutes, add endives to roasting tray beside the radishes, and the garlic mixed into the radishes
9. Roast for further 10 minutes
10. Arrange on serving plate and sprinkle pecorino on top
Our closest bakery (Urban Bakery, Hysan Place, haha) had walnut bread at end of day, hence we use this instead of crusty Italian bread. Adds a great twist while still keeping in line with the spirit of this classic Tuscan dish. Cavalo nero #locallygrown
Serves 2
Time: 🕰
Effort: 💪
2 leaves of cavalo nero⠀
2 slices crusty bread, or walnut loaf⠀
1/2 garlic clove ⠀
Salt⠀
Water⠀
Good e.v. Olive oil
1. Slice two pieces of bread diagonally, around 1.5cm thick⠀
2. Select two leaves of cavalo nero of similar length ⠀
3. In a small pan, boil the leaves with salted water and garlic clove, until leaves are soft but not crumpled⠀
4. Set aside leaves to cool; retain liquid in pan ⠀
5. Toast bread until crunchy⠀
6. Soak bread in cooking liquid until softened on one side⠀
7. Place bread on tray, soaked side up⠀
8. Carefully lay one leaf on each slice⠀
9. Drizzle with olive oil and serve
Nat & E Homecooking 