Nigella Lawson's Lamb Shanks and Creme Brûlée | Nigella Bites

my absolute favorite pullback stress-free supper is lamb shanks and creme brulee I always start with the creme brulee which simply involves cream vanilla eggs sugar a sink full of water and the blowtorch now the reason that I have filled that simple of cold water so when you make it custard which after all is what creme brulee is it can spit there's always that danger and so I know that if I've got that cold water there if it looks like it's gonna curdle I just run over with my pan and plunge it into the sink full of cold water and all will be well okay so what I want to do first a whisk and pour in the warm cream complete with a pod lovely back here and again with the Pinilla pod I mean the more intensive vanilla read the better especially if you're eating this after the old strong play this back on the heat now low heat if you're of a timorous bent and slightly higher if you'd like to live dangerously and stir until it's thickened now I use this lovely wide pan simply because the more surface area that's being heated the faster it will thicken the one thing you do have to do is stir constantly but having said constantly this only takes a few minutes something very calming about the smell vanilla maybe it's because it's a component in mother's milk I don't know how this could be so but I'm told it is now it's thickening really well I mean you want this thick and of course remember that the custard will thicken as it cools just take out the vanilla pod hmm and now I just want to go and get the dish which I put in the deep freeze so it's really cool just pour in I know it doesn't fill to the top but this is very rich and you don't need a huge amount and you know by now that if I say that it must be true and that's all you need to do until it's cold then stick you in the fridge and then it gets more properly chilled and then it's a question of sprinkling on the sugar and torching it the term dinner party has such hideous connotations when in fact you did want to invite your friends around but most of the time I just want lots of food on a table and everyone can dive in as they want no dinky procession of courses this is something I do perhaps the most often aromatic lamb shanks to you with couscous the first thing I need to do is brown these lamb shanks in batches so lamb shanks of a knuckle end of legs of lamb and like all cheap cuts they need slow long cooking but the flavor is so much better than sort of more expensive fancier cuts right turn over I think real home food is about this sort of cooking the restaurants can do a quick flash bribe this is what I want to meet in people's houses on my own it is important to brown them on both sides because the fat when it's pallid looks particularly unattractive on anyway this way you seal it and get a lot of flavor and also you render some of the fat down into the pan which gives again a lot of flavor for browning the onions and later [Music] now there are two onions here Poor Clares of garlic but I know where you get bogged down with weights and measurements because stews are not like that it really is sort of go with a flow time and now I said this is an aromatic lamb stew let me show you my aromatics that's nice and soft turmeric first which is less of an aromatic than a beautiful food dyes that golden-yellow add some depth to a bit of ground ginger us full of sweet heat cinnamon slight middle-eastern quality not too much or winter sort of apple pie time some crushed chilies I like this quite hot and some fresh nutmeg good stir you know really how much or how little you added these spices is up to you so taste as you go along all I would say is add enough so it doesn't taste as if you're being apologetic about the spiciness and now some masala I mean there's no logical reason why this goes in if if I always keep my salah around my love so the the depth of smoky tone it brings but you could add red wine you can and sherry you could have nothing some honey lime is sweet anyway this a bit of honey brings out that sweetness not too much or it'll be sort of putting it and soy now I know a bit of globe-trotting here I don't mean to be potentially eclectic it's just that I find soy gives you an intensity of savoriness the salt alone just doesn't give you so this onion mixture has cooked a spicy sweet it's a tangle of flavors and what's wonderful is as soon as your friends come in through the door they'll be hit by this aromatic fog perfect but the lamb shanks back in now then it's just a question of covering with water and cooking for an hour and a half Oh because I don't want to waste any of these lamb juices that have settled on the bottom this dish is going to pour the water and here to swill around before sticking in the pot and then bring to the boil lid on and cook one hour and a half or so till it's tender and which time I am a free woman right now should be absolutely perfect I've got this water on for the couscous so I'll turn off now the important thing when you need a lot of water is to make sure it's boiling before you need it otherwise you have endless waiting it off and have a quick see mm-hmm lamb is lovely and tender now taste for spice and seasoning mmm but I want a bit more soy and now some lentils now I use these red lentils which soften into the sauce turning what is now quite a watery gravy into a thick grainy coating and anytime you can get that in a stew without adding flour is a bonus in my book about six spoonfuls I mean if you would account they swell a lot so you didn't need read that much now I want to cook this now without a lid on so that as the lentils soften the liquid evaporates so I get deepening of flavor and thickening of texture now to go with this I want something that will kind of soak it up I've got some couscous there and with the cursus some nuts I've got pine nuts pistachios flaked almonds which I want a toast first and by toasting I just mean heat in a dry pan until they get golden and fragrant these smells there ready as well as see which is perfect and then when the couscous is done like this walk them through then that'll be sort of not studied and a bit of crunch okay my couscous you can read on the packet exactly how to treat couscous generally needs to be soaked first and then Steve and when I soak this couscous these little semolina grains like baby baby baby pester and into the water I put salt annal so cardamon because I want a sort of musky quality as well so add further to the aromatic sense this meal and then a bit of butter on top not too much but enough and this helps you know when the couscous is ready as well because by the time the heat has reached up through the couscous to the top it would be warm enough to start melting the butter when it's ready just fork through never use a spoon on couscous please this makes it Clegg II the lamb just needs to be tipped out into a serving dish most big one welcoming sprinkle with sort of violently green civic recessions and suppers on the table [Music] no juice please obsessing your nose I found those funny things that I was that much to be honest this is and so where do you graphically this is custom look it doesn't come from anywhere but it follows from the Moroccan Palace Tibet [Music] oh the printer that is the noise hold it [Music] [Laughter] [Music] you

Channel: Nigella Lawson

Views: 562,059

Rating: 4.8813581 out of 5

Keywords: nigella bites, nigella lawson (chef), full length, cooking (interest), nigella lawson, nigella lawson 2018, nigella kitchen, simply nigella, slow cooker recipes

Id: 3ySbXqvEKNY

Length: 11min 51sec (711 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 05 2019