Where I Ate Last with Tony Astle: Mazette!

Tony Astle is still in France, and this week he last ate at Mazette! in Annecy, which offers seasonal cuisine in the French Bistro tradition.  

He sampled the Carpaccio de langue de boeuf, a “sensational” dish of thinly sliced beef tongue with capers, spring onions, celery, and toasted croutons, as well as the ris de veau grille, and le pate en croute, among other things. 

LISTEN ABOVE 

 

Recipe of the Week: Braised Lamb Shanks in Red Wine and Rosemary 

Ingredients: Lamb Shanks  

2 carrots, peeled, rough chopped 2 onions, peeled rough chopped  
3 cloves garlic, peeled, chopped fine 
50 ml oil  
4 lamb shanks 
3 tsp flour   
1 l brown stock 
275 ml red wine  
2 ½ Tbsp tomato paste 
2 bay leaves  
1 rosemary sprig 
salt & pepper  

  

Method 

1. Brown the carrots, onion, and garlic in a little oil, then place in a deep pan or casserole dish.  

2. Dry, then brown the shanks in a hot pan with a little oil.  

3. Add the shanks to the vegetables.  

4. Drain off any oil. In the pan, add the tomato paste.  

5. Over a low heat, ‘cook-out’ the tomato paste, stirring regularly, for 2-3 minutes. Doing this step sweetens the tomato paste, by partially caramelising its sugar content.  

6. Stir in the flour. Add the wine and stock to the tomato paste. Stir and bring to a boil.  

7. Add the liquid to the shanks and vegetables. Add the rosemary and bay leaf. Season.  

8. Cook in a preheated oven (160-170 deg C) for around 2 hours, or until the shank meat is tender. 

9. When done, remove the shanks and keep them warm.  

10. Strain the cooking liquid and discard the solids.  

11. In a pan reduce the cooking liquid until it thickens. Check seasoning.  

  

Assembly 

1. Having prepared your favourite potato dish and vegetables, plate the potato.  

2. Lean the shank on the potato, add sauce and your vegetables.  

3. Eat and enjoy!  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Finding the hidden gyms at the hospitality scene where I
ate last with Tony Astell on Kerry WOODAM Mornings, and
a very good evening to you, Tony Estell.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Well, it's bon soir from me and bondeur to you.
I think it is.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Indeed, are you in France still?

Speaker 3 (00:18):
Yes, I'm still in France. I'm back in We're back
in Casis at the moment. Although I went to a
wee day trip to to Sanrepez yesterday.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
There's no cost of living crisis.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
There might to you, I imagine, not all the boats there,
Oh my goodness.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
They're unbelievable.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
When we went to this restaurant that was very flashy
but and really exuding prices like you wouldn't even believe
in your life. But I was very tempted with the
five hundred grams of cavia that was on special, and
it had been marked down to oney one hundred New
Zealand dollars a portion, so I thought, no, I better
not have that, so I just had the oysters, which

(00:58):
happened to be about twelve dollars each.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
Anyway, Way, well.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
It's about New Zealand prices for a bluffy.

Speaker 3 (01:03):
Well it is too so it wasn't a difference, but
I but we went to Annise a week or so
ago and the restaurant was. Look, it was just my
favorite restaurant I so far, because it was all awful.
So everyone out there will now be curdling and sort
of jumping under their beds. But I tell you, I've
never had so much awful in one night in my
whole life. And I was absolutely exciting.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
Oh, I'm so pleased. We'll tell us about it.

Speaker 3 (01:28):
Well, I had we had three different courses, but I
had I had capartio of tongue.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
Oh, and it was.

Speaker 3 (01:37):
It was cooked tongue but cut really really thinly, and
it was it was served with capers, spring onion, celery
and toasted croutons, and it was absolutely sensational. It just
had a sort of a citrus regret with it. I
gave that five ticks.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
I was just so excited.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Oh lovely, gosh, you don't get that very off.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
No, you don't.

Speaker 3 (02:01):
Well, I've never seen because I serve an awful lot
of tongue at antwines, and of course I've never really
thought about it serving it as well.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
Our mothers used to serve it cold.

Speaker 3 (02:13):
They used to press it, I think, and so anyway,
they cut it so thinly, but it was just absolutely
beautiful and it wasn't overcooked, but it was so thin
that it wasn't tough. So it was really an inspirational dish.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
I was very very excited about it.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
Okay, so five times for that one.

Speaker 3 (02:30):
Next then they had we had the there was well
there was a terreen of course on crew, which is
cooked in a hot water pastry and its set with
a jelly. Well that was just traditional and not hugely
hugely exciting for me. But then I had my Oh
my feet were going under the table on this one

(02:51):
was underwet, which is every bit of in it's from
the pig into one sausage, right, and it does have
a rather high I owed it, but it didn't smell
too bad this one. And when you cut it, it
just crumbles. But it was absolutely every like it has
lungs and it has tripe, and it has liver, it
has every stomach, every bit of thing in it, but

(03:13):
it's it's all stuffed into a an intestine, but it's
it's fried and was absolutely crunchy on the outside and
when you cut it, the juice has just ran Oh,
I tell you, it was absolutely beautiful. It wasn't not
for the faint faint hearted, but it was perfect for me.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
Why wasn't it?

Speaker 2 (03:31):
Is it only because I thought?

Speaker 1 (03:33):
Sorry? Is it only because you know what's the new
that it's not for the faint hearted? Or is it
just such a strong flavor that it's not for the
faint hearted?

Speaker 3 (03:42):
Well, I think it's just it's Look, if you shut
if you didn't tell someone what it was like, tripe
come to shut their eyes and eat it and they
don't know what it is.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
They quite like it.

Speaker 3 (03:51):
But this really is probably because what you think it is.
But you can buy them commercially and they stink. So
but this was just crafted beautifully by the chef, and
it was it was actually like eating roast meat, but
in the skin.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
It was absolutely beautiful and it was simple.

Speaker 3 (04:10):
Anyway, Look, it just it got my bubble burst. Anyway,
I just thought, absolutely fantastic.

Speaker 1 (04:16):
What was that? What was that that you served? Was
it testicles you served at your dinner down at Victoria
Park where we had all the chefs.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
Oeh, that was funny. That was the spring roll of
what that's right?

Speaker 3 (04:30):
And we didn't remember, we didn't tell anybody, and everyone
absolutely loved them. And I told I think I've been
on the radio the next day at you on your
station and told everyone suddenly there were about five five
hundred vegetarians.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
You were the you were in the MC that night.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
I was, and I was a sheep testicle eater. I
really enjoyed it.

Speaker 3 (04:49):
Well, I think you know, everyone likes to get into
a testicle or two from time to time, you know, yes,
But anyway, it's very hard to come by the as day,
as I might tell you.

Speaker 1 (05:01):
But are they well what a waste? You know, at
least if you're going to eat an animal. I love
the way you do those to tail. You know, you
don't waste a bit.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
No, you don't.

Speaker 3 (05:12):
And and of course the other district we had was
a rede vot, which is is a veal sweetbread and
they're very very large, and it was absolutely crisp and
crunching on the outside, and when you cut it was
soft and creamy. It was absolutely beautiful. Because you know, sweetbreads,
people actually do get them confused with brains and the

(05:33):
other end testicles as well, But a sweetbread is actually
a times clan from the neck and it's huge if
The veal ones are absolutely magnificent, very very hard to
come by in New Zealand, but of course they have
a lot of white veal over here and you just
cut and it's just absolutely smooth on the palette. It's
soft and it's just so tasty. And it was I mean,

(05:56):
this chef at the Mazetti in Anna, see, he knew
his craft and he obviously just absolutely adored awful. The
funny thing is that I met people the next day,
some New Zealanders and they had been there too, And
then when I posted it on Facebook, so about eight
people had actually been to that restaurant.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
So it's obviously got a good following.

Speaker 1 (06:18):
Okay, now what would you serve with that though, because
you'd have to have something quite quite niche to go
worth off or wouldn't.

Speaker 3 (06:25):
You Well they they normally here just serve it with
soata potatoes and maybe just some steam spinach, right, Okay,
you know, something like that, but you definitely don't want
to go adding other huge flavors to it because you
really want to make the main course the hero, and
it has to be the hero. And I think so
many people in New Zealand with you know, with what

(06:46):
we give, so carried away with putting so many flavors
on the plate, there is one beautiful part of the.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
Dish that's the hero, and we should actually remember that
at all time.

Speaker 1 (06:55):
Okay, so your favorite one so far, your favorite restaurant
so far.

Speaker 3 (06:59):
Yes it has an look, it's probably not it's not
a five tick restaurant, but it's definitely a three and
a half to four. But you you must go there
thinking awful, because if you don't eat ovel, there's no
point in going at all.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
And it's very small, very simple and just wonderful stuff.

Speaker 1 (07:16):
That just was just delightful, lovely, lovely to catch up, Tony,
thank you so much. This week's recipe of the week
got a news talk, saidb dot co dot Enz. It's
not quite as adventurous as Tony's last dish where he
ate last. It's braised Lambshanks and red wine and Roseman.
With the weather turning to custard just before we finally
head into summer, perfect time to have your last chance

(07:38):
of braised Lambshanks and red one and Roseman. Yam, that
won't be a weekend thing to do. Sorry to the
vegetarians out there, but look, you know, at least if
you're going to eat an animal, nothing is wasted.