Peake Practice, compiled by restaurateur Ray Peake, of Callums Bistro, Accrington

ON January 27 1995 - exactly five years ago to this very day - a certain Mr Peter Thomson and Miss Tanya Backhouse were married.

Their reception was a very grand affair for more than 300 guests and, with the exception of a handful of vegetarians, they all enjoyed a five-course wedding breakfast.

Their main course was Spicy Braised Lamb Shank.

Peter and Tanya, if you are reading this, congratulations on your fifth wedding anniversary.

Although I wasn't at the wedding reception, I have eaten and enjoyed this lamb dish on other occasions and I am sure you will too.

The more observant of you will notice that this is my second consecutive recipe to feature lamb.

No, I have not been given a free, all-expenses paid holiday to New Zealand courtesy of the farming federation of that country. It is pure coincidence, honest.

Speaking of holidays, I have recently spent a relaxing, wonderful five-day break with my wife and baby daughter in the Lake District - and that wasn't courtesy of the Lakeland Lamb Council.

Being on a self-catering basis, our first day we went to the village supermarket.

At the checkout, I was offered their delivery service which comprised them delivering my shopping to our apartment, unpacking it in our absence and putting the frozen items in the freezer, the beer in the fridge etc.

I, of course, accepted their kind and helpful offer and can't wait until my local supermarket at home offers me the same level of service. Which brings me again to the subject of shopping.

You may think I do not like or do not use supermarkets. I do use them, of course, but am selective about what I buy from them and spices are definitely not on my shopping list.

You pay over the odds when you buy those little glass jars.

I have said before and I repeat - we have an abundance of Asian grocers' shops in every town in the area. They sell spices in large packets at a fraction of what you would pay elsewhere.

So do seek them out and discover the world of spice at a value price.

Chinatown in Manchester is also a favourite place I visit for unusual ingredients from the many Chinese supermarkets to be found among the restaurants.

In summary, it is fair to say that the dishes you cook can only be as good as the ingredients you use.

Braised Lamb Shanks and Coriander Mashed Potato

Ingredients ( serves 4)

4 lambs shanks

2 tablespoons coriander, cumin and fennel seeds

3 whole star anise 2 cinnamon sticks

2 carrots, 1 parsnip peeled and cut into 1cm dice

2 small red onions peeled and quartered.

2 red hot chillies, sliced

150 ml cooking oil

1 juicy lemon cut in fine dice

1 large tin of plum tomatoes

1 teaspoon fried mint

12 green, 12 black pitted olives

100g tamarind paste(Asian shops sell it)

50 ml Asian fish sauce

50ml tamari or if you have problems locating this use a good quality soy sauce

Method

1. Roast the lamb shanks in a hot oven (220C/Gas 7 ) for 40 minutes then remove from the oven.

2. While the lamb is roasting, place cumin seeds, fennel seeds, star anise and cinnamon on a baking tray and roast to a deep brown colour, allow to cool then grind finely in a spice grinder. 3. Saut the vegetables and chilli in a frying pan until they soften then add the diced lemon, tomatoes, roast spices, dried mint, olives and tamarind, fish sauce and tamari and bring gently to the boil.

4. Pour your delicious spicy sauce over the lamb shanks, add enough water to three quarters submerge them and return to the oven for a further two hours 190C Gas 5.

The lamb shank can be served with couscous as it is in Morocco. I personally prefer to enjoy it "plonked" on top of coriander mash potato. This is so easy and so delicious and so simple to make. Make your mash potato as normal (I assume you can make mash potato)

Coriander oil

Take a bunch of coriander and finely chop it and I do mean finely chop, add it to a small jar of the very best virgin olive oil you can lay your hands on and you have made coriander oil. Drizzle in the coriander oil in to the mash potato to an intensity you prefer and mix it well.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.