It was pretty rainy, windy and cold out today so my original plans for smoking took a detour. Moving activity indoors and digging out the sous vide was the new plan. I haven’t used my sous vide in quite some time so maybe the weather did me a favor.
Although I was going to smoke the lamb I planned the overall menu for tonight out over the last couple of weeks reading various posts and browsing online recipes. Some of you know I grabbed four lamb shanks a few weeks ago at Kroger for the incredible price of $0.99 / lbs. The meal tonight will feature a Chimichurri leg of lamb. To keep with the theme of Brazilian / Argentinian cuisine I am going to serve my version of black beans using black soy beans and lastly Salada de Palmitos.
First up is unpacking the nice big lamb shank. I forgot to look at the total weight but it is a pretty big one. I can already tell its unlikely my vacuum sealer rolls are big enough for this. I probably should take the time to debone it and roll it but feeling lazy and have a lot of other steps for the entire meal. Going to just cut one piece off and cook two separate pieces. Next time I will plan better and debone and roll it.
I am using some commercial chimichurri for the marinade since it was on clearance at Kroger. (I should be a paid spokesman LOL). Coating them good and then vacuum sealing.
I ended up having to double seal them as the wet rub was a mess and I could not get the first layer to seal completely. Into the frig to marinade for around 4 hours. I’d have like to done overnight but had an issue with the heat last night that trumped this.
Ok here they go into the sous vide bath. I am going to do them for 6 hours at 130F and then reverse sear in a big cast iron skillet. The time was based on a recommendation I found from J. Kenji Lopez. I got this Avalon Bay sous vide for Christmas a couple years ago and really do need to use it more often. I have turned out some pretty killer food using it but often forget about it. Using a plastic coated dumbbell for a weight. Works great.
Well while the lamb is cooking time to get on the sides. I did not capture all of the steps and raw ingredients. Figured it would be picture overload. First up is the beans. Pretty straight forward here. I am short cutting using 2 cans of Eden black soy beans. I use these for the super low carb content. Traditionally regular black beans would be used for this meal in Brazil and Argentina. I added a bay leaf and about 1 ½ tbsp. cumin,1 tbsp smoked paprika and salt and pepper to taste and started them simmering. In a separate skilled I am cooking some finely chopped poblano and serrano peppers to add to them.
Added the poblano and serrano peppers to the beans and simmered for a while. I will be using the larger parts of the poblano later in plating. Here they are finished.
Next up and sure to be my wife’s favorite item from the meal is the Ensalada de Palmas (Hearts of Palm Salad) Again I did not take pics of all the ingredients and bore you with veggie chopping pics. First I will make the dressing for the salad. The dressing was ½ cup of freshly juiced limes, ½ cup of avocado oil (can use EVOO) 2 teaspoons of minced garlic. The recipe then calls for a couple teaspoons of honey. For my low carb version I used monk fruit sweetener to taste. Now for the salad. The salad is 24 oz. of halved heirloom cherry and grape tomatoes, a 14 oz. can of hearts of palm , drained and but into about ¼ inch slices, a small red onion cut in small pieces, one bulb of fennel cored and then shaved into nice thin pieces and lastly one avocado cut into nice bite size pieces. The salad will be topped with a little fresh minced mint and the dressing when served.
Last up while waiting on the lamb is a fresh mint chimichurri. I did use the commercial stuff for marinade but wanted to do a nice fresh mint version for serving garnish. This was roughly ½ cup of cilantro, ½ cup parsley and ¼ cup mint and one medium shallot minced finely. I added 2 tsp. of minced garlic. To that I added about 1 cup of avocado oil and some red wine vinegar to taste. Felt it was missing something so I hit it with some lime juice which was about a half a lime squeezed in it. To finish it off a little Himalayan pink salt. I did not run this through a food processor, decided it like to keep it nice and coarse. Into the frig for a while. I think the herbs will soak in a bit of the oil and vinegar. It will get another good stir prior to use.
Time to get the lamb out of the bath and into the fire. This is the first chance I have had to use this nice 17” Lodge CI pan I got for Christmas. Searing in the hot cast iron skillet with some avocado oil. If you can’t tell by now we use a lot of avocado oil. It is a super healthy oil and is very good for high temp cooking. I buy it by the gallon.
Getting closer to the finish. Here is the seared lamb on the cutting board with some slices stared after a bit of a rest. I do think I should have seared it a bit longer to get a little more crust on the outside but the initial nibbles are very tasty.
Here is the money shot of the meal plated. Lamb sliced thin garnished with fresh mint chimichurri. The beans are served on a charred poblano pepper. The salad is drizzled with the lime dressing and topped with a bit of fresh mint and fennel greens. The bright citrusy flavor of the salad was a nice offset to the spicier profile of the beans. The lamb was juicy and the chimichurri flavor complemented the meat very well. The addition of the mint to the chimichurri was subtle yet recognizable and complemented the lamb.
Well thanks for looking!! This is a meal I would do again for sure. With better weather I would love to hot sear the lamb at the end on my Kamado.
Although I was going to smoke the lamb I planned the overall menu for tonight out over the last couple of weeks reading various posts and browsing online recipes. Some of you know I grabbed four lamb shanks a few weeks ago at Kroger for the incredible price of $0.99 / lbs. The meal tonight will feature a Chimichurri leg of lamb. To keep with the theme of Brazilian / Argentinian cuisine I am going to serve my version of black beans using black soy beans and lastly Salada de Palmitos.
First up is unpacking the nice big lamb shank. I forgot to look at the total weight but it is a pretty big one. I can already tell its unlikely my vacuum sealer rolls are big enough for this. I probably should take the time to debone it and roll it but feeling lazy and have a lot of other steps for the entire meal. Going to just cut one piece off and cook two separate pieces. Next time I will plan better and debone and roll it.
I am using some commercial chimichurri for the marinade since it was on clearance at Kroger. (I should be a paid spokesman LOL). Coating them good and then vacuum sealing.
I ended up having to double seal them as the wet rub was a mess and I could not get the first layer to seal completely. Into the frig to marinade for around 4 hours. I’d have like to done overnight but had an issue with the heat last night that trumped this.
Ok here they go into the sous vide bath. I am going to do them for 6 hours at 130F and then reverse sear in a big cast iron skillet. The time was based on a recommendation I found from J. Kenji Lopez. I got this Avalon Bay sous vide for Christmas a couple years ago and really do need to use it more often. I have turned out some pretty killer food using it but often forget about it. Using a plastic coated dumbbell for a weight. Works great.
Well while the lamb is cooking time to get on the sides. I did not capture all of the steps and raw ingredients. Figured it would be picture overload. First up is the beans. Pretty straight forward here. I am short cutting using 2 cans of Eden black soy beans. I use these for the super low carb content. Traditionally regular black beans would be used for this meal in Brazil and Argentina. I added a bay leaf and about 1 ½ tbsp. cumin,1 tbsp smoked paprika and salt and pepper to taste and started them simmering. In a separate skilled I am cooking some finely chopped poblano and serrano peppers to add to them.
Added the poblano and serrano peppers to the beans and simmered for a while. I will be using the larger parts of the poblano later in plating. Here they are finished.
Next up and sure to be my wife’s favorite item from the meal is the Ensalada de Palmas (Hearts of Palm Salad) Again I did not take pics of all the ingredients and bore you with veggie chopping pics. First I will make the dressing for the salad. The dressing was ½ cup of freshly juiced limes, ½ cup of avocado oil (can use EVOO) 2 teaspoons of minced garlic. The recipe then calls for a couple teaspoons of honey. For my low carb version I used monk fruit sweetener to taste. Now for the salad. The salad is 24 oz. of halved heirloom cherry and grape tomatoes, a 14 oz. can of hearts of palm , drained and but into about ¼ inch slices, a small red onion cut in small pieces, one bulb of fennel cored and then shaved into nice thin pieces and lastly one avocado cut into nice bite size pieces. The salad will be topped with a little fresh minced mint and the dressing when served.
Last up while waiting on the lamb is a fresh mint chimichurri. I did use the commercial stuff for marinade but wanted to do a nice fresh mint version for serving garnish. This was roughly ½ cup of cilantro, ½ cup parsley and ¼ cup mint and one medium shallot minced finely. I added 2 tsp. of minced garlic. To that I added about 1 cup of avocado oil and some red wine vinegar to taste. Felt it was missing something so I hit it with some lime juice which was about a half a lime squeezed in it. To finish it off a little Himalayan pink salt. I did not run this through a food processor, decided it like to keep it nice and coarse. Into the frig for a while. I think the herbs will soak in a bit of the oil and vinegar. It will get another good stir prior to use.
Time to get the lamb out of the bath and into the fire. This is the first chance I have had to use this nice 17” Lodge CI pan I got for Christmas. Searing in the hot cast iron skillet with some avocado oil. If you can’t tell by now we use a lot of avocado oil. It is a super healthy oil and is very good for high temp cooking. I buy it by the gallon.
Getting closer to the finish. Here is the seared lamb on the cutting board with some slices stared after a bit of a rest. I do think I should have seared it a bit longer to get a little more crust on the outside but the initial nibbles are very tasty.
Here is the money shot of the meal plated. Lamb sliced thin garnished with fresh mint chimichurri. The beans are served on a charred poblano pepper. The salad is drizzled with the lime dressing and topped with a bit of fresh mint and fennel greens. The bright citrusy flavor of the salad was a nice offset to the spicier profile of the beans. The lamb was juicy and the chimichurri flavor complemented the meat very well. The addition of the mint to the chimichurri was subtle yet recognizable and complemented the lamb.
Well thanks for looking!! This is a meal I would do again for sure. With better weather I would love to hot sear the lamb at the end on my Kamado.
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