Flat Iron Steak with a Green Peppercorn Cream Sauce...

In no time at all you can whip up this classic sauce!  It's easy and the prep is simple.  Try it, you'll love it.

This dish should keep Larry quiet for a bit!

We served our meat with roasted acorn squash, which is coated with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper.  Then put in the oven at 325* for an hour.   We also had caramelized onions and garlic, with kale.  To caramelize the onions just chop or slice finely and saute in olive oil over medium high heat.  When they start cooking and get soft, add the garlic and turn the heat down to low.  Now leave them alone for 15 minutes, then add the chopped kale, stems removed, and season.

For the meat.  The meat should at room temperature for about an hour before cooking.  This step helps the meat cook evenly.  Get a saute pan nice and hot.  Rub or brush the meat with olive oil and season with salt and pepper, then place in the hot pan.  Cook until nice and brown, then turn and do the same.  The meat should be very rare still, so move to another pan and place in the oven to finish.

Sauce for two:
1 cup red wine
1 teaspoon green peppercorns
1/2 cup beef or vegetable stock
1/2 cup cream

Clean out the pan that you cooked the meat in by wiping with a paper towel and scrape out any burned bits.  Now place the pan back on the stove over high heat, when it's hot, add the wine and reduce until about two tablespoons.  Then add the stock and do the same.  Now add the peppercorns and cream, lower the heat to medium and reduce the cream a little.  This only takes seconds!

Sauce your warm plates, and place the meat on the sauce, now add your vegetables.  You can put the rest of the sauce on top of the meat because you won't want to waste any!

Bon Appetit!

Lamb Shanks in a Red Wine Sauce

Vegetarians turn away!

This dish takes a bit of time, but it's worth the wait...

Recipe:
1 onion finely chopped
2 carrots finely chopped
3 stalks celery finely chopped
3 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 small can tomatoes
5 cups stock
1 bottle red wine
2 lamb shanks
1 large sprig fresh rosemary
olive oil

First set your oven to 325*.  Puree one small can of organic tomatoes, and place in a roasting pan, add one cup of stock.  Cover with a lid or foil, then place in the oven for one and a half to two hours.  The flavors will really intensify by taking the time to do this step.  Make sure not to dry it out, add more stock if needed.

Take the shanks out of the fridge an hour before cooking them.  Place your chopped onions, carrot and celery on a cutting board and chop together a little more to infuse flavors.  This mixture is now called mirepoix.  Saute the mirepoix in a little olive oil until soft, add the garlic and then set aside.

Empty one bottle of red wine into a pan.  Over high heat bring the wine up to a boil, then lower the heat to simmer and reduce the liquid by two thirds.  Now do the same thing with the rest of the stock.

When the tomatoes are done, remove from oven and set aside.  Now season the shanks with salt and pepper.  Using a saute pan over high heat with a little olive oil, brown all sides of the shanks.

Add the shanks, rosemary, mirepoix, wine, stock and a good pinch of salt and pepper to the tomatoes.  Cover and return to the oven for 3 hours.  After 3 hours, if there is a lot of liquid left in the pan, cook for another half hour with the lid or foil removed, but be careful not to dry it out.  A cast iron dutch oven works well for this.

Serve over sweet potato and potato mash...

Bon Appetit!