CHRISTOPHE’S TO GO – GOURMET MEALS TO GO RIGHT TO YOUR HOME OR OFFICE – CELEBRATES THE OPENING OF IT’S NEW KITCHEN BY SHARING THIS AMAZING RECIPE FOR LAMB SHANKS BRAISED IN MARIETTA BASED RED HARE BREWING‘S WATERSHIP BROWN ALE
Chef Christophe Le Matayer owner of Christophe’s To Go recently opened his brand new shiny production kitchen to service his retail locations. Christophe’s To Go provides refrigerated prepared gourmet meals for delivery or pick up. You simply heat the meals in your oven or microwave.
French born Chef Le Mateyer has traveled the world cooking in restaurants and hotels in France, Copenhagen, Monte Carlo and here in America. He spent quite a few years as Chef de Cuisine in The Cafe at the Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead (he arrived after I left the Ritz-Carlton so unfortunately I didn’t have the opportunity to work with him)
During this celebration Chef Christophe shared some amazing dishes with us, creations you might find in one of the three-star Michelin restaurants he worked in. We started dinner with Brined Raw Salmon, Lukewarm Creamed Dill Potatoes, Seaweed, Lemon Zest. He paired this with Red Hare Brewing’s Whabbit Wheat unfiltered ale made with peaches and apricots. This beer was my favorite by far-light on the hops, fruity and insanely drinkable.
The next dish up was Roasted Rabbit Saddle Barley Salad, Ginger, Plum, Bacon, Ginger bread served with Gangway IPA
Buttery Carrot Puree, Curried Pistachio and Spicy Popcorn was paired with Cotton Tail Pale Ale Beer. This dish was delicious and so creative. The texture of the carrot puree was creamy and fluffy due to the addition of browned butter and a whirl in a Vitamix blender.
Beer Marinated Braised Lamb Shank, Potato Gnocci, Mushrooms with Watership Brown Ale was next in the line-up. Chef Christophe was kind enough to share his technique for perfectly braised lamb shank. The recipe for the braised lamb is at the end of this post.
A Dinner Roll bowl was filled with Honey Beer Poached Pear, Blue Cheese and Frisee Salad served with Red Hare’s Long Day Lager
Dessert for the evening was Caramelized Apple, Hazelnuts, Raisins in Frozen Italian Meringue served with Hasenpfeffer Oktoberfest. The frozen meringue was a brilliant, delicate base for the dessert. Fluffy and creamy in contrast to the crispy hazelnuts and caramelized apple
Beer Braised Lamb Shank Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 lamb shanks
- 2 cans Red Hare Brewing Watership Brown Ale or similar beer
- Salt and Pepper
- 3 tablespoons canola oil
- 3 carrots
- 3 celery stalks
- 1 onion
- 2 cups chicken stock
Instructions
- Marinate the lamb shanks in beer over night
- Remove the lamb shanks from the beer, reserve the beer and pat the lamb shanks dry
- Season the lamb shanks with salt and pepper
- Pour the canola oil in the Dutch oven and heat over a medium flame
- Brown the lamb shanks on all sides, about 3 minutes per side, in the canola oil.
- Remove the lamb from the pan and set aside
- Pre heat your oven to 250 degrees
- Add the chopped carrots, celery and onion into the pan and saute for 5 minutes
- Pour the reserved beer into the pot and bring to a simmer
- Add the chicken stock, browned lamb shanks and any liquid given off by the lamb shanks
- Place the Dutch oven into the oven and let the lamb shanks cook for 3 -4 hours or until the lamb shanks are tender
- Remove the lamb shanks from the braising liquid and tent with foil to rest for 10 minutes
- While the lamb is resting boil the braising liquid on the stove top to reduce and thicken the liquid
- Strain the solids out of the braising liquid skim the fat - or pour it into fat separator - and serve this sauce over the lamb
- Serve with gnocchi, polenta or grits
When makig the sauce you’re going to want to remove the excess fat. Try using a fat separator like the one pictured below to easliy remove the fat after cooking. Click HERE to view OXO SoftWorks Fat Separator
Many thanks to Christohphe’s To Go for the wonderful dinner. I received no compensation for this review. All opinions and views are 100% mine.
