Phillip Kraal's Lamb Shanks in Orange and Sage Sauce

August 20, 2002

I've just spent the weekend in Napier, about four hours' drive from my Wellington home. Napier is one of New Zealand more interesting cities architecturally. It was struck by a severe earthquake in 1931 - magnitude 7.8 on the Richter scale. That, plus subsequent fires, left the commercial heart of the town in ruins. The neighbouring city of Hastings, 20 kilometres to the south, suffered a similar fate.

They were rebuilt in the styles of the period: Stripped Classical, Spanish mission and Art Deco. With the more recent nostalgia boom, the region has capitalised on its wonderful Deco architecture and this has helped the local tourist industry immensely (for a tour, visit http://www.artdeconapier.com/.

But people don't visit Hawke's Bay for the architecture alone. Napier and Hastings are at the heart of a wonderful wine region. And in recent years to local restaurant industry has burgeoned.

I went up with a friend to watch a former work colleague's husband installed as the Bishop of Waiapu. It was certainly a very colourful ceremony with quite a sense of theatre about it.

Afterwards many of us visited a local Maori marae for the traditional "afternoon tea‚".

A marae is a meeting place for the local Maori people and there are many of them throughout the country, some small, some large. Each features a beautifully decorated meeting house and it is the land in front of this meeting house that is actually the "marae‚". As well, there is a whare kai, whare meaning house and kai meaning food.

There was a welcoming ceremony for the newly ordained bishop and we other manuhiri or visitors. Marae protocol is a fascinating subject in itself and you can learn more at http://www.maori.org.nz/tikanga/

Anyone who has visited a marae will know Maori don't just offer a cup of tea! The tangata whenua or local people had laid out a banquet for their visitors - pork, fish, potatoes, kumara (yams), pumpkin and other vegetables. There was puha (sow thistle, something like spinach and a rich source or iron), marinated raw fish, chunks of eel with crispy skin and delicious flesh, rewena or Maori bread, paua (a sort of abalone) very finely minced in a thick white sauce with a hint of onion. Dessert included ginger steamed pudding with custard and fruit. And there were cups of tea, lots of cups of tea.

The lasting thing that stays with you after sharing a meal on the marae is that the Maori definitely know all about comfort food. They are experts as hospitality. I overheard one of them say to another after we had finished "My puku is tight.‚" Puku is stomach and I think we could all echo that!

What was even more impressive was the fact that our hosts had prepared a spread for five hundred people with only a couple of days notice. The event was due to be held at another marae but a couple of deaths meant that marae was required for two tangi or funerals in succession so the people of Kohupatiki had stepped in.

The next day my friend Lois and I visited a local market and I was tempted by the bunches of puha on sale. However, Lois, who is Maori, said it took quite an amount of culinary skill to produce puha as fine as we had just eaten, otherwise it could be very bitter. She said she couldn't cook it successfully herself. I decided not to follow a good experience with a bad one!

Speaking of comfort food, however, brings to mind lamb shanks and I noticed these on the menu at various cafes in Napier.

Last week I made a delicious variation on the shanks theme, using a recipe which local chef Phillip Kraal shared with Saturday morning radio listeners a while back. I ended up marinating the meat for two days because I hadn't diaried a dinner engagement the night I planned to serve it. No matter, it was twice as delicious.

Phillip mentions meat glaze in his recipe. Mine went west in a freezer clean out but I used beef stock made with stock powder and it certainly didn't detract from the end result.

Phillip Kraal's Braised Lamb Shanks In Orange And Sage Sauce

8 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 stick celery, chopped
1 leek, washed and sliced
1 bayleaf
1 clove
50g sage leaves
200ml orange juice
200ml meat glaze (leftover roast gravy can be used)
200ml red wine
zest of 2 oranges
10-20ml red wine vinegar
salt and black pepper
4 lamb shanks
40ml olive oil
100g flour
2 tbsp cornflour
2 tbsp butter

Combine the first 14 ingredients as a marinade for the lamb shanks, add the shanks and leave for 24 hours (see picture). Remove the shanks and drain. Pour the marinade through a sieve to drain the vegetables, reserving the liquid.

Preheat the oil in a solid-bottomed braising pan. Lightly flour the drained lamb shanks before browning them in the hot oil one at a time. Place the browned shanks on a tray and keep in a warm place. Brown the drained vegetables in the same pan.

Once the vegetables have coloured, place the shanks on top before pouring over the marinade. The marinade should half cover the shanks, but if you have insufficient liquid add a little more red wine.

Cover the pan with tinfoil and place in a preheated moderate oven (160C-180C) for approximately 3 hours. Check every hour. When the shanks are tender, remove them for serving. Thicken the sauce with a little cornflour mixed with cold water and adjust the seasoning to taste with salt and pepper. Just before serving the sauce, whisk in the butter. Pour the sauce over the shanks and garnish with fresh sage leaves.

Serve the shanks with spaetzle or noodles and some rustic type of vegetable. Serves 4.

Recipe © Phillip Kraal Picture © Pat Churchill