Lamb Shank Pasta and others

Since the husband was supposed to be studying, I decided to cook most nights in Melbourne so that there wouldn't be wasted time. The last time we were there, he really liked the lamb shank pasta so I decided to do it again.

First - get a good bottle of wine. Must be good for drinking too.

We bought lamb shanks at the local supermarket for about $4 each - this was probably more expensive than what we could have got them at Victoria Market for, and yet in Singapore they probably cost about $10 each for frozen shanks.

Full of meat

The shanks need to be fried in hot oil in a deep pot

I set them aside when they were nice and brown

Finely diced carrots and celery

Finely chopped onion and garlic

All fried together in the remnant hot oil in the same pot

I added the wine

Then I added some beef stock and tomato paste, and simmered the entire mixture for 2 hours. And yet, it wasn't long enough since people were hungry :(

Shank taken out of the pot - they do shrink by quite a bit

Meat off the bone

Meat from 4 shanks

We bought fresh pasta since it was so affordable

The final product. Would have been better with another half to one hour of boiling.

Lemon tart from Babka for dessert! Best lemon tart in Melbourne

Another night, I cooked chicken rice

Braised chicken, eggs and tofu

Roast pork

And my friend did creme brulee - every home needs a blowtorch for creme brulee emergencies

Ta-dah. This was yum - with brown sugar caramelised on top.