Planet to Plate: The Earth Hour Cookbook - recipes to save Earth

In 2015, Earth Hour in Australia will celebrate Aussie food and farmers, reminding Australians of the need to tackle global warming for the sake of our rural communities and our supply of fresh, healthy, homegrown food.

As part of the campaign Earth Hour will release Planet to Plate: an Earth Hour Cookbook, a collection of 52 recipes by Australia's top celebrity chefs.

Saltbush lamb shanks with wattleseed, grains and bitter leaves

Serves 5

4 saltbush lamb shanks
1 bottle of red wine
2 cloves garlic
3 eschalots
2 stalks of thyme
2 fresh bay leaves
1 lemon peel
250g butter
250ml chicken stock

Sauce:

2 tbsp fat, reserved from shanks
2 tbsp flour

Spice mix:

2 tbsp wattle seeds
1 tbsp fennel seeds
½ bunch mint leaves
¼ tsp peppercorns
½ tsp salt flakes

Grains:

100g dried spelt
100g pearl barley
100g rye grains
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 brown onion, finely diced
100g speck, diced
100ml chicken stock
1 small red radicchio

To braise the shanks, add all braising ingredients to a crock pot or deep casserole dish with a lid. Make a strong seal by covering first with a sheet of baking paper then tin foil and the lid on top; this will stop any heat escaping, helping the meat cook at an even temperature.

Bake in oven preheated to 140 degrees for 4-5 hours on a low temperature until the meat is tender and falling off the bone. Be careful when opening the seal of the foil because the steam will be very hot and can cause nasty burns. Let the shanks sit overnight under the liquid.

After the shanks have sat in the fridge overnight, skim off all the fat from the top and reserve 2 tablespoons to make the sauce. Remove the shanks from the pot and reduce the stock by half.

While the stock is reducing, make the sauce by cooking the fat and flour together for 3-5 minutes until lightly toasted, add to the stock to thicken and stir well. Put the shanks back in the sauce to warm up.

Toast the spices and salt in a fry pan over low heat until they become fragrant and begin to crack. Remove and, using a spice grinder or mortar and pestle, grind the spice mix to a powder. Finely chop mint leaves and add to mix. Roll the warmed shanks through the spice mix ready to serve.

Cook the grains in separate pots of boiling salted water, like you would pasta, until they are tender. Strain in a colander and mix together.

Cook the garlic, onion and speck in olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat for 7-10 minutes, stirring to make sure they don't catch on the bottom of the pan. Add all the grains and chicken stock and cook for a further 5-10 minutes to heat the grains.

To serve, tear the radicchio leaves and stir through the grains. Place the grains in a bowl, lamb shanks on top, and spoon over a little extra sauce.
MIKE EGGERT

Lemon myrtle semifreddo with candied rose petals

Serves 8

Semifreddo:

480ml of cream
8 egg yolks
250g sugar
120 ml of water
5 lemon myrtle leaves, torn into pieces
1 lemon, zest and juice

Candied rose petals:

petals
egg white
sugar

To serve:

raspberries and blueberries

Lightly whip the cream and put aside in the fridge. With an electric mixer, whip the egg yolks until pale, light and creamy. Leave in the bowl while you turn your attention to making the syrup. Put the sugar, water and torn lemon myrtle leaves into a saucepan. Bring to the boil and let simmer for about 3 minutes. Strain into a small jug, removing the leaves.

Go back to the egg yolks and, with the beaters whipping away, slowly pour in the strained, hot syrup and keep beating until the mixture is cool, for at least 3 minutes. It will actually look less like egg yolks and more like a very gooey, pale meringue mixture. Fold in the whipped cream, lemon zest and juice.

Pour into a mould (such as a mini-loaf tin) lined with cling wrap. Cover with cling wrap and place in the freezer overnight. Make sure you put it in the coldest part of the freezer: the faster it freezes, the creamier it will be.

To candy the rose petals, gather some petals, remove the white bit at the pointy end, because it is bitter, and paint both sides with egg white. Then dip in sugar, covering the entire petal with granules, and leave to dry on a rack for a few hours.

To serve, remove the top layer of cling wrap, place a platter over the top and, holding the tin and the platter together tightly, flip. Ease out of the tin, remove the rest of the cling wrap and scatter the candied petals over the top before slicing individual serves. Serve with a side of raspberries and blueberries.
TOBY OSMOND and ANNABELLE HICKSON

Carrots, tops, honey and black garlic

Serves 4

3 good-sized bunches of baby carrots, with washed tops on
50g toasted flaked almonds
30g honey
1 handful basil leaves
1 tsp roasted coriander seeds
50ml light olive oil
1 lemon
salt and pepper
1 garlic clove
1 black garlic clove
100g grated parmesan
80g sheep's yoghurt

Cut the tops from the carrots, season with oil, salt and pepper, then char over the coals or on a char grill. Char the carrot tops a little and set aside. If you don't want to char the carrots at home, cook in a 190°C oven for about 10 minutes.

With a pestle and mortar, smash some of the tops along with coriander seeds, almonds, honey, oil and cheese to make a pesto. Mix the pesto in a bowl with carrots and add more salt and lemon juice.

Peel and crush the black garlic, then mix into the yoghurt and finish by spooning the yoghurt into a large bowl with the carrots on top.
DARREN ROBERTSON and MARK LaBROOY

• Planet to Plate: The Earth Hour Cookbook, earthhour.org.au/cookbook, $49.99.
• Earth Hour is on at 8.30pm, Saturday, March 28.