Wintery conditions have finally returned to Canada's capital after record rainfall earlier this week, the fourth week of January. With such odd weather, it is a wonder Ottawans have their bearings climate wise. Today, temperatures fell below zero again, so I think I will mark the occasion by revisiting a slow cooked dish, red wine braised lamb shanks with onion polenta.

Red Wine Braised Lamb Shanks with Onion Polenta

Of note, even though the lamb shanks made a hearty and savoury dinner, I consider this dish a failure. I will explain why later.

To make the above braised lamb shanks, three fresh lamb shanks were purchased from then Loeb (now Metro) on Wellington. For the record, it was several days past Christmas and Jenn and I wanted something very much non-poultry after serving up our annual turkey feast with all the fixings.

Three fresh lamb shanks

At $11/kg, the shanks ran us $16 before taxes
Remember that number, it will come in handy later...

As with any braise, I seared the lamb shanks, placed them in a small mount of flavourful liquid, and cooked them covered for a long period of time (3 hours). To ensure a hands-free braise (Sunday is chore day for my household), I turned to my slow cooker (aka: crock pot). To ensure the shanks picked up some tannins from the red wine (an unremarkable cabernet sauvignon), I coated the shanks in flour before searing them.

Lamb shanks seared in a little canola oil in a pan

Lamb shanks unceremoniously deposited into the pot of a slow cooker

The braising liquid was a red wine reduction, flavoured with sweated onions.

3 sweated down onions
I added one bottle of an unremarkable cabernet sauvignon, brought to mixture to a simmer, and lowered heat to low, reducing it until thickened.

Reduced red wine and onion mixture

Mixture poured over lamb shanks and slow cooked on low for 3 hours

Braised Lamb Shank

After letting the shanks cool, I placed them in the refrigerator overnight, since braised meats taste better aged. Here' are theories why.

To serve, I whipped up a standard polenta recipe and added finely chopped green onions to taste. That day, I used Alton Brown's polenta recipe. Others will do.

Creamy batch of polenta

Meanwhile, I baked the lamb shanks in an oven, preheated to 350°F, uncovered until they darkened.

Plated Served

More after the jump...

Many-a-time, I've heard stories of the legendary apple, ham and cheddar sandwich. Recently, I've even come across a melt, featuring the same ingredients on sliced sourdough:

Cheddar, Ham, and Apple Melt
According to the description from "Tales of an LA Addict" on flickr.com, the ham is smoked, the cheddar is sharp, and the bread is smeared with apple butter. The apple looks thinly sliced.

To me, it makes perfect sense. The apple provides sharpness and sweetness to contrast the savoriness of the ham and cheddar. As such, I decided to apply the theory to apple pie.


An unassuming surprisingly good store-bought apple pie

Take a slice and shred some cheese on top

Microwave for 15 seconds and the disaster is complete

Substitute bread for pastry. Substitute mozzarella for cheddar. Substitute fresh apples for cooked.

To borrow a line from the character Ross (played by David Schwimmer) in one of my favourite episodes ("The One Where Ross Gets High") of the sitcom Friends, "It tastes like feet!" While I have no idea what feet really taste like, I feel that the innate disgust from the very idea of tasting feet is appropriate to what I put in my mouth. The hot melted cheese, sweet pastry, and warm apples didn't mix. There was sweet and very little savory. The textures were just wrong.

Back to the drawing board. Please do NOT try this at home!

BTW, if you're interested in the scene that featured Ross' line, youtube currently hosts it:

The episode is yet another classic Thanksgiving special. Personally, I feel that Friend's former writers saved the best material for Thanksgiving, but that may just be me.

This Just In: The day after boxing day, Jenn made me the following ham and cheese melt for breakfast.

Ham and Cheese Melt
She made it in a fry pan with some margarine; hence, the lovely crisp crust. Unfortunately, we had no apples, so I'm still looking to try the apple, ham, and cheese sandwich. This, you should try at home!

When the barbecue grill is buried under several weeks of snow fall, my cooking arsenal is cut by a third. I am left with my beloved convection toaster oven and my trusted electric household oven, typical of many other condo dwellers. Imagine the quandary when pork loin roasts again went on sale and I was left to my devices for Sunday dinner.

Gratefully, my better half saved me a tin of Pillsbury Crescent Roll dough from her making me "Pigs In a Blanket."

Pillsbury Crescent Roll dough
With a can of self rising dough, my thoughts immediately turned to pork wellington, which is traditionally made with tenderloin. I only had a large pork loin, so I made do. I carefully butchered out several lengths of lean meat from the pork loin, reserving enough of the roast to stuff and tie.

One turned out. I chalked the other up to a "learning experience."

For the stuffed roast, I sautéed some mushrooms in butter and caramelized one finely chopped large cooking onion in a tbsp of canola oil.

mushrooms and onions

Reserving a third of the mushroom/onion mixture, I butterflied the remaining pork loin roast, stuffed it, and tied it. I then preheated the oven to 350 F and arranged the roast on an oiled broiling pan.

Stuffed and ready for roasting

To accompany the stuffed roast, I put together two pork wellington portions by topping the lengths of excised pork loin with stuffing and wrapping everything in 4 connected sections of crescent roll dough.

Lengths of Loin and Stuffing

Wrapped For Baking

I too arranged the pork wellington portions onto the broiling pan and placed it in the oven.

Ready to meet the heat

During the baking process, I noticed that the moisture collected under the grate of the broiling pan softened the dough, so I removed the pork wellington portions to my convection toaster oven, set to 350 F, until the internal temperature of the meat reached 145 F.

Pork Wellington Portions Done
As you can see, while browned, the crust split.

Pork Wellington Portions Sliced
The meat was surprisingly moist and took on the flavours of the stuffing, but the device left much to be desired visually. The bottom was also soggy.

On the other hand, the stuffed roast turned out beautifully. It was pulled from the oven when the probe thermometer read 155 F.

Beautiful Stuffed Pork Loin Roast
After letting it rest for 10 minutes, each slice proved juicy and flavourful, tasting faintly of mushroom and caramelized onion.

I guess Pillsbury Crescent Rolls make a poor pork wellington. Back to the drawing board!

Having repeatedly enjoyed traditionally prepared Bosnian cevapcici from Skela on 956 Merivale Road, I decided to try my hand at making my own. Besides, with the summer more than half over, I have to exploit my access to a gas barbecue as much as possible. I thus armed myself with a modified recipe from the Frugal Gourmet, some tips from a colleague, and some information from various websites and made an attempt.

My first encounter with these caseless sausages appeared on foodiePrints sometime ago. What ended up coming off the grill was visually acceptable. The grill marks made the suasages look authentic. However, the texture was very different. The cevapcici that I had had from Skela were moist and chewy on the inside. Mine were drier and more crumbly.

I served my failed cevapcici with skewered vegetables and mini-potatoes.


Cevapcici off the Barbecue

Plated Cevapcici

The recipe follows:

More after the jump...

During the Victoria Day weekend, Ling, longtime friend of foodiePrints, got me interested in making a mango flavored cheesecake. She and her girlfriends found a recipe and decided to make it together. I decided to follow in her stead.

Now, I've made several cheesecakes over the years: New York-style cheesecakes (my favourite), sour cream cheesecakes, and a failed chocolate cheesecake. All were baked. I have yet to try my hand at the no-bake (aka: mix and refrigerate) variety. With my limited exposure to cheesecake-making, I realized that I have never flavored a cheesecake batter before. What do you add to ensure that the cake still comes out smooth? How do you keep the batter light? How do you infuse a fruit flavor into a batter? When it comes to fruit, I usually add it on top as a garnish. This said, I dug deeply into the "usual" sources (allrecipes.com, epicurious.com, and foodtv.com) for recipes and googled for ideas.

Here's what turned out and why this recipe was less than successful:

More after the jump...