With Valentines Day approaching there are many ideas floating around on “what to do?”, “where to go?”, “what to offer?” and of course “what to cook?”.  I recently heard a song about Valentines Day that said “I don’t know how to fit all the love and all the loneliness in one day”, it really rang true to me. I think food is love, it doesn’t matter if  you cook for yourself, your family or your friends. It always brings people together and some of our finest memories are tied to food. So who needs to fit all the love in one day, who needs flowers and presents when we can just enjoy some tasty food.

Here is my idea of love on a plate. Lamb shanks and veggies. (If you don’t eat lamb, you can opt for a chicken drumstick for this recipe, but don’t forget to half the cooking time. The chicken version is at the end of the recipe **)

Lamb shanks are somewhat hard to find in Brussels. My Moroccan butcher doesn’t always have it and looks somewhat confused/bothered every time I ask for them. I recently discovered that my Turkish butcher always has them ready to go or he prepares them on the spot for me. So, I now make the trip to Schaarbeek, have a little chat with him, get my complimentary mint & parsley and head home to cook this family favourite.

This recipe is full of vegetables. The slow cooking in the oven and the herbs you will use really enhances the overall flavour.

This recipe is for 4 persons. If you need for 6 or more, just increase the amount of vegetables, the rest will be easy to adapt.

I hope you will enjoy it.

What you need:

As I mentioned earlier, this recipe has a lot of vegetables and herbs, you can use these ones and add other vegetables if you like. Just make sure the vegetable you pick doesn’t take longer to cook than others.

• 1 roll of aluminium kitchen paper (or baking paper if you prefer) – 4 pieces cut into 25-30 cm
• 4 lamb shanks
• 4 sticks of celery, chopped
• 2 courgettes, quartered (16 quarters or so)
• 4 medium potatoes, quartered
• 1 leek, cut in 4-5cm pieces and halved
• 4 medium carrots, peeled and halved
• 16 button mushrooms, halved
• 16 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 1 medium size red onion, cut into 8 wedges
• 12 sage leaves
• 4 rosemary stems
• 50 grams of butter for the butter stuffing
• Salt & pepper for seasoning the vegetables
• 1/2 tbsp of olive oil per parcel, evenly pour over the vegetables

For the Butter Stuffing:

• 1 tsp dry basil
• 1 tsp coarse salt, freshly ground
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• Few leaves of fresh oregano, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, peeled, crushed
• mix all ingredients into the butter

What you do:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees
2. Prepare the butter stuffing by mixing all the ingredients together and getting the butter nice and soft
3. Cut a hole along the bone on each lamb shank to prepare it for the butter stuffing
4. With a tea-spoon, butter knife or your finger, place the butter stuffing inside the lamb shanks making sure the butter is touching the meat
5. Place all the prepared vegetables in bowls, line them up for the next step… the production line
6.  Cut 4, 25-30cm pieces of aluminium foil and lay them on your counter side by side
7. From the vegetables bowls place the following items in each sheet:
   • 4 potato quarters
   • 2 leek halves
   • 8-1o pieces of celery (1 celery stick per parcel)
   • 4 carrot halves
   • 4 courgette quarters
   • 8 mushroom halves
   • 8 cherry tomato halves
   • 2 red onion wedges
   • 1 clove of garlic, whole
   • 3 sage leaves
   • 1 rosemary stem
8. Once all the vegetables are in the parcels season with salt & pepper
9. Sprinkle with olive oil (1/2 tbsp per parcel) and mix the vegetables together
10. Finally place the lamb shank in the centre
11. Carefully wrap the aluminium foil around the lamb shank, the bone sticking out about a centimetre
12. Make sure you don’t pierce the foil during this step. It is very important to keep the heat and steam inside the parcels for an even cook
13. Repeat this step for each parcel
14. Place all parcels on a flat bake tray and cook for about 60 minutes at 180 degrees
15. Check one parcel at 60 minutes to see if the shank is soft and almost falling off the bone, if not, close and place for another 10 minutes

If you are using baking paper instead of foil you can tie a tight knot on the bone of the shank with kitchen string. The cooking time shouldn’t change but it is always good to check at 50 minutes to be sure you don’t over cook the lamb.

As baking paper doesn’t hold its shape like foil, place the parcel in a soup bowl when you are ready to check it, to avoid spills and of course burning yourself.

This is an easy and impressive dinner party dish. You will have plenty of time to enjoy your guests since the prep is done in advance.  You can serve it in the parcels at the dining table, by peeling down the foil by the sides, or untying the string from the baking paper to reveal the goodies inside. It will certainly have some “wow” factor.

Enjoy!

**If you are making this recipe with chicken drumsticks instead of lamb shanks, be sure to remove the skin of the chicken (unless you like soft skin on the chicken) and par boil the potatoes before wrapping them with the rest and only cook for (max) 45 minutes in the oven (checking at 30 minute point). temperature of the oven can remain the same.