The hunting season is getting closer and it is time to empty the freezer for new gain. I had baby deer shanks and wanted to go for a long cooking technique for a juicy and tender meat. My initial idea was to submerge them into a casserole pot, but realized that the shanks don’t fit. So I used an oven tray instead.

This is a simple and delicious recipe that I recommend especially when your not in a rush. You can replace the deer shank with any other shank like lamb or beef. the recipe works also with any type of meat that requires long cooking time such as beef roast, lamb neck, ribs etc.

Put the baby deer shanks in an over tray with 5 cm high edge. Peel the vegetables and chop in big chunks. Add the vegetable to the tray. Add the all the spices. Roast on the oven at 240C for half an hour. Flip the shank once or twice during the roasting time.

Phase 2: Simmering

At the end of phase one, remove the tray from the oven and add the following ingredients:

• 3 dl red wine
• 3 tsp of sea salt
• 2l of water (or enough to submerge the shanks)

First cover the oven tray with a baking paper then wrap it with a foil real tight so the steam wont escape, especially if your shanks are not totally submerged. Bake in the oven at 120C for 4 hours.

Phase 3: The sauce

At the end of phase 3, and after you checked that the meat is tender, poor around 6 dl of the simmering stock in a small cattle, add dried thyme and boil it until 2 dl are left.

• 1/2 tsp of dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1 tbsp. of corn flour mixed with 1,5 tbsp. of cold water
• 1/2 tsp of brown sugar

Once you have 2 dl left, lower the heat and add salt, sugar and corn flower. Then bring it to a boil until it thickens. You can taste and adjust (sugar and salt) flavors accordingly.

Phase 4: Plating

The shanks and the sauce are ready now it is time to plate. Serve your dish with oven roasted vegetables like potatoes, carrots, parsnips, Brussel sprouts etc. Add your roasted vegetables in the middle of the plate, place the shank on top, add the sauce and a pinch of salt.

NB: Remember to enjoy the flavors of the bone marrow in the shanks and also save all extra stocks for later use.

Don’t forget to check out other recipes on the Joseskitchen blog.

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It is just unbelievable that in this modern world, a country decides to invade another sovereign country and the world is doing nothing about it. Following the news today, all you see and hear are war related stories and updates about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is sad to see such thing happening and sparked strange nostalgic feelings in me that took me few decades back in time to my memories of war.

Since Russia borders Finland from the East and have war history together, many I know are worried that the war is heading to Finland. Many are stressed out, lost their sleep, and anxiety have hit them hard. I relate to those feelings and trust me I know how it feels.

I have had a beautiful childhood, a traditional Lebanese one. We lived on the seaside, grew up on the beach and all my hobbies related to water sport. We have done crazy things with my brother; he was the crazy one of us. Our childhood came from an expensive price my family had to pay when they had to escape their home during the civil war. We grew up in war and I vividly remember all of it.

Living underground

The headlines about the invasion brought up my memories of war. I remember when it all started, we were at school and bombardments started around midday. The school alarms went on, the teachers took us below ground. We went to the lower levels of the building, multiple classes in one tight space. From students to teachers, you could touch the fear in that room. At that time, no smartphones existed yet, so landlines were used to contact the families and transportation to make sure everyone gets home safe and sound. It took few hours, but we made it home to a hysterical mom anxiously waiting for her family to get reunited.

Stinger attack

Once home we realized that my dad was not there yet. He was working in a different city and got blocked out. His story of that day is bone chilling to this day. He came across a roadblock and was denied access. He pushed through by force and while passing heard a shout saying “shoot shoot”. They launched a stinger towards the car and was lucky that the shot passed over the car shattering only the car windows. He made it through and came home that night.

That night was hell we didn’t sleep at all. Well, we didn’t sleep for many weeks after. That night, we moved to a corridor underground, a 1,5m x 9m tunnel. 4 families lived there for weeks. In intense battle days we couldn’t get supplies, we had to portion food as we didn’t know when we will be able to get more supplies. The bombardments were intense during the night, you could hear in the background the sound of rocket launchers. First you hear a “bup” and seconds later you hear the explosion.

Soldiers stormed our spot on many occasions looking for so called enemy and my dad stood in their face telling them to stay away of families and kids. Every time we had a small window to get outside, we were collecting what we called “art”. When rockets exploded, metal fragments melt on high heat before cooling down, forming artistic pieces of metal with different forms, colors, and sharp edges. We were competing who collects the most beautiful one. We spent limitless sleepless night and we spent most of the time praying that the whole thing goes away.

Lost in action

My memories are the experience of every Lebanese child who grew up in war. I’m sure many relates to my experience. Many lost everything they have, they owned and the extreme loss of relatives. I lost my uncle in that war. He was 34 at that time, engaged planning to get married. It was a Friday when my dad and my second uncle lost contact of him. News that his command post was hit reached our family. They couldn’t reach anyone in that post. A survival of that post informed them that my uncle is still there.

By Saturday still no news yet about my uncle. The atmosphere in the house was dark. We, the kids, were asked to stay in the room so we won’t hear the landlines discussions. Then on that night they got the confirmation that my uncle did not survive, and he was killed in action. It took many days to retrieve the body. I still remember the bloody army jacket and the white pants dyed in red. The jacket had 3 bullets hole, one in the chest and 2 in the stomach. My uncles are now together with my grandpa and grandma. Let their soul rest in peace.

Memories of war

These memories will haunt me for the rest of my life whether I like it or not. Lebanon is a country of endless wars. There is no winner in war; everyone loses. Writing this blog brought all these emotions to the surface. I am wiping my tears while living those moments again. It has been over 30 years, yet I still remember every second of it. Bittersweet memories of war.

I can’t stop thinking of the scared people, hiding with their loved ones. I hope they got enough supplies, a place to hide, enough cash, or just simple basic means to hide and survive. My prayers goes to all lost souls in battle. I pray for those who are forced to practice the act of war whether they want or not. Once you get summoned, you either report to duty or you are considered an army runaway. I want to believe that Finland is on the safe side but if the war reaches this side of the world and I got summoned, I will be the first one in the front line.

Peace & Love!

Photo source https://medium.com/demikorban/civil-war-beirut-the-youth-needs-to-know-more-10014ab003fd

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I like to challenge myself in cooking and rarely plan ahead. I often open the fridge and start mixing ingredients to come up with a dish on the spot. The dish is usually born from any ingredient found and most of the times from my craving to eat a certain ingredient. Sometimes the dish is born from the lack of time of the rush to make something fast when hunger struck, as I get impatient when hungry.

For example, one day I wanted to eat red lentils which I already have in my kitchen. So I took a cattle, turn on a slow heat and I poured around 1,5 dl of red lentils into the empty cattle. My wife was looking at me and laughing that what the hell is happening. Did I loose my mind or what :)?  And after looking in my dry shelf storage, started to find some other ingredients and a delicious tomato-beans soup was born. 

You might ask me how I come up with recipes. Well my background as a chef helps of course, my Lebanese origins give me more choice for mixing flavors and the most important is my personal interest in playing with food and in mixing different ingredients. I love to mix spices, sauces, marinades, dips and cross-mix many ingredients together in a way that you might never heard or seen before. Many times I come to the conclusion that I will never do this or that again.

This pasta dish was born from a bag of artichoke I had in my storage. I opened the fridge, starred for 5 minutes until the fridge alarm went on. My wife, looking at me thinking of what should I prepare, threw the word pasta at me and I got excited as I have lemon, artichoke and pasta. What else do you need for this!?

Recipe for 2

• 5 spirals of tagliatelle pasta
• 350g sausages
• 200 g artichoke wedges
• 1 onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 lemon juice
• 2 dl cream
• pinch of grinded ginger 
• pinch of grinded white pepper 
• 2 pinches of salt

For decoration

• 20-30 g of cheese
• hand full of rocket
• 1 spring onion

Boil the tagliatelle pasta for 9 minutes in water with salt and oil. Follow the instructions on the package for each type of pasta you are using.
Cut the sausage in small pieces and fry them in a hot pan until brownish. Add the chopped onions and sliced garlic. Cook for few minutes until the onions soften. Add artichoke, cream, lemon juice and all the spices. Mix well and let it cook on gentle heat for 4-5 minutes. Give it a taste and add spices accordingly.

Move the pasta to the plate, add the artichoke and sausage sauce on top. Decorate with rockets, chopped spring onions and grated cheese.

PS: you can also add the pasta to the pan and mix it with the sauce.

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The easiest recipe ever: roll, rise and bake! You can not fail at this one. All the ingredients can be found in your kitchen and whether you are using an electric oven or a gas oven 100% is guaranteed.

Recipe 12 buns

How to prepare?

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Saurkraut Dip

Is a healthy option for you instead of the very high caloric and unhealthy spreads that you usually find in the fridge. The recipe was born when I was forced to eat healthy due to a sever stomach complications.

I was recommended to eat sauerkraut to build back the good bacteria in my intestine and it wasn’t my favorite food so I came up with this simple and quick recipe that altered the sauerkraut taste. This became my favorite dip to eat. Serve it on bread, roasted sweet potatoes, tortilla, etc.

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