Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks

Braised Lamb Shanks

Lamb shank with potato-carrot mash and baby peas

Comfort Food, plain and simple!

This dish is just so easy to make, yes it takes a bit of work, but still easy to make. It looks and tastes so incredible. The meat just falls off the bone.

Serve this dish with a potato-carrot mash and some baby peas.

I use a large cast-iron Dutch Oven for a small crowd or stainless steel roasting pan for a large gathering. For browning us a cast iron pot if you have.

This recipe is for 6 people

Recipe ingredients:

• 6 lamb shanks, around 500 grams or 17 oz each
• ½ - 1 cup of white flour
• 6-8 tbs of canola oil (grapeseed oil, sunflower oil and safflower oil is OK) Add more oil if needed
• 1½ cup of red wine (a good hearty red will do fine)
• 2 medium onion, chopped
• ½ a leek, chopped fine
• 1 medium-sized potato, peeled and cubed
• 800 ml of canned diced tomatoes. You can use whole canned tomatoes or tomato sauce if you do not have the diced ones.  Add the whole content of the can.
• 3 carrot, sliced
• 1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped
• 2 cups of strongly flavoured beef bullion (I prefer "Better Than Bullion). Double up on the product that you use. The dissolved bullion should taste strong.
• 4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 3 fresh bay leaves. If you do not have fresh use dried
• 1 whole sprig of fresh rosemary (about 6 inches or 15 cm long)
• 1 tsp of minced fresh ginger
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 ½ tsp white pepper

Trim the lamb shanks if needed. In a cast iron dutch oven add the canola oil and heat to medium-high.

In a large zip lock bag, add the flour, salt and pepper and shake up really well. Now add one lamb shank at the time, shake it so it is nicely coated then set it into the hot pan.

 Brown the shanks well. They should be browned all the way around. This does not cook the meat, it just sears it so it keeps the flavour in. The important part here is to brown the shanks well. I brown one shank at the time and keep them warm in the oven or wrap in tinfoil. While browning I use a large spoon and baste the shanks. Since the shanks are very irregular it is hard to brown them all over, but by basting (pouring the oil with a large spoon) you can get them nicely browned. This takes some time, at least 10 minutes each.

Potato-carrot mash with slow-cooked lamb shank

Once finished browning the shanks, turn the heat down to medium and add the onions, carrots, leek. Saute till the onions are translucent. About 5 minutes. Add the ginger, garlic and apple to the pan and saute for another minute or two, making sure not to burn the garlic. Make sure to scrape after the bottom to get all the bits and pieces from the shanks loose, it will add fantastic flavour.

Add the beef stock, diced tomatoes, wine and the bay leaf stir and bring to boil. Taste the mixture and adjust salt, pepper and or beef bullion. Return the shanks to the pot and slow cook 4-6 hours turning the shanks every 30 minutes or so. Once the meat starts to almost fall of the bone, you're done.

The sauce that is leftover tastes fantastic. If not to your liking adjust with salt, white pepper, bullion or wine. Bring to boil and reduce to desired thickness.

I prefer to make this dish one or two days ahead of the actual dinner. Set the whole pot in a cold place, preferably the fridge. If you live in a tempered climate like we do, the balcony works well. Before returning back to the stove, make sure to remove all the fat. It is now in a nice layer on top and can be scraped off with a spoon.

Leftover wine, freeze in ice cube trays and use for cooking at your convenience.

Once cooked, remove the bay leaf and the rosemary sprig, serve with a potato-carrot mash and green baby peas.

Enjoy