Host & post a roast for kids with cancer

Christmas is all about giving. And food. But mostly giving. Okay, and food. But we digress. This holiday season, the Kids With Cancer Foundation Australia is asking Aussie families to gather their friends and loved ones together over a home-cooked roast meal to help raise some much-needed money for young kids fighting cancer.

The Post a Roast campaign encourages people to cook up a roast for family and friends and ask each guest to make a donation to the Kids with Cancer Foundation. You also post pics of your roast on social media, tagging the foundation and its sponsors (which you’ll find below). The family that raises the most money will win a Family Q3200 Premium LPG Weber BBQ valued at $799, courtesy of Weber BBQ Australia.

Families helping families

“The Post a Roast campaign is about families helping families,” says Eric Watson, Victorian Marketing Manager of the Kids With Cancer Foundation Australia. “It started because our normal avenues of fundraising were greatly curtailed due to COVID-19 and the lockdowns. In fact, we’re down about 70 percent from where we would normally need to be.

“The needs of the families we help are higher than normal for the same reason, and so we had to do something that was going to fix the problem. I guess the positive that came from this year is that many of us have had to learn to think differently in order to keep going!”

Let’s get ready to roast

The Kids with Cancer Foundation began in 1998 to help the families of children with cancer meet their everyday needs, as well as help fund research and clinical positions in hospitals. The foundation’s vision is to help every child with cancer in Australia achieve the best possible outcome and to ensure they have access to all the medical and family support they need. Since the foundation began, it has raised over $28 million.

To help you get your best roasting game on, we’ve shared an outstanding recipe below for herb, garlic and lemon lamb shanks with herb potatoes, by MasterChef contestant and Post a Roast supporter Amina Elshafei.

You can register for Post a Roast at postaroast.org.au. One hundred percent of the money raised will go to the families the foundation helps. On the website you’ll also find cooking videos from MasterChef stars Lynton Tapp and Amina Elshafei. Your registration pack will include spice mixes from Maggi, pancake mix from Noshu (for dessert), recipe cards from Tapp and Elshafei, cooking tips from Weber and a Post a Roast apron.

Herb, garlic and lemon lamb shanks with herb potatoes

Serves 4

You’ll need:

For the lamb shanks:

4 large lamb shanks
8 sprigs each of fresh oregano and lemon thyme
10 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
2 small lemons, halved
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
½ tsp ground black pepper

For the potatoes:

1½ packets of Maggi Herb Potatoes
1.3 kg of Sebago Potatoes, peeled
3-4 tbsp olive oil

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C (fan-forced). In a heavy-based baking dish, start making the marinade by removing the leaves of 6 sprigs of lemon thyme and fresh oregano. Add coarsely chopped garlic, olive oil, salt and black pepper. Squeeze out juice of lemon halves, add the lemons to the mixture. Using the tip of a sharp knife, create a few slits in lamb shanks, making sure to reach the bone.

2. Using your hands, massage the marinade well into the lamb shanks. Arrange shanks on the baking dish, leave half the marinade beneath the shanks and the remaining half on top. Double foil the baking dish and place into the hot oven for half an hour.

3. After half an hour, reduce the temperature to 150°C and cook for a further 2.5 hours. Remove the foil in the last 20 minutes and gently turn the lamb shanks to coat all sides

4. When the lamb is almost 80 minutes away from finishing, cut the potatoes into 3cm by 3cm cubes and place into a separate heavy-based baking dish. Add the olive oil and Maggi Herb Potatoes mixture and mix well until all the potatoes are evenly coated. Add the potatoes, uncovered, to the oven and cook with the lamb shanks. Gently toss the potatoes every 20 minutes until golden and cooked through.

5. Turn the lamb shanks in the remaining marinade mixture and garnish with remaining fresh herbs. Serve both the lamb shanks and herb potatoes immediately while hot