Lets face it, while we all like a good steak cooked to perfection in only a few minutes and using our incisors, canines and molars to give the meat a good workout while we taste, before the eventual digestion process begins, but it’s also pretty hard to go past something that has been slow-cooked or braised over a lengthy period that falls apart in the mouth, oozing with flavor (well I’m pretty sure I just lost the vegetarians). And during the colder months what can be more satisfying that slow braised lamb shanks with mashed spud and something green, to keep the nutritionists happy (probably peas).
The lamb shank was not so long ago (in my years anyway) considered good for the dogs, but rarely consumed by discerning humans, but sometime in the last 30 or so years, they came into their own as a prized cut of meat (when cooked properly). Pretty much as long as you don’t completely mess up the braising liquid, it’s going to be somewhere between pretty good and outstanding and the best thing is, there’s no need for thermometers or firmness or colour checks, no need for pinpoint timing, just make sure there’s enough liquid and cook it for roughly this long and as the late Errol Brown would say (in his Hot Chocolate days), “Everyone’s a winner, baby, that’s no lie, You never fail to satisfy” (mind you he did also say “I believe in miracles, where you from you sexy thing?”).
Speaking of “You Sexy Thing”, check out the video on the website of the plating of the Braised Lamb Shanks, it should have its own censorship rating!!! Maybe “Suitable for Mature Braised Lamb Shank Consumers (MBLSC)”.
Despite all of this, the wife still isn’t a fan (of lamb shanks that is, I’m sure she still loves Hot Chocolate), maybe one day she will come around and I’m sure as Errol has another lyric to support that.
Enjoy.
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat oven to 170℃/340℉.Dry the shanks with kitchen towels and season generously with salt and pepper.
- Heat a large Dutch oven or stove usable roasting pan to a medium high heat add a tablespoon of oil and brown the shanks all over (approx. 5 mins). If using a Dutch oven, that is going to be a tight fit, brown two at a time. Remove and set aside.
- Reduce heat to medium, add more oil to the same cooking device and sweat down the onions and garlic for about 5 mins, then add the carrot, celery and leek, cook for a further 5 minutes.
- Add the tomato paste and mix increase the heat to medium high cook for 30 seconds and add the wine, mix well and leave to cook down the alcohol for a minute or so before adding the tinned tomatoes (remove them from the tin first and discard the tin (responsibly)), the stock and thyme, plus a good grind of black pepper and good pinch of salt.
- Bring to a boil and reduce the temp to medium to cook for a further 5 mins, then marry the sauce and lamb shanks together in one dish so that the liquid almost covers the shanks, cover with lid (or double tin foil) and place in oven (the one that you pre-heated) for 130mins.
- Remove the lid/tin foil and return to oven (the same hot one as before) for a further 25 mins.
- Remove from oven, then remove the shanks onto a tray, cover with tin foil and keep warm. Strain the sauce through a sieve into a saucepan (making sure that you give a squash and a squeeze to the vegetables in the sieve to get all of the goodness through) and bring the saucepan to the heat to reduce to the sauce to your desired consistency (don’t overdo it, you want a rich thick, but still runny enough to pour sauce).
- Serve shank onto a bed of creamy mashed potatoes with some peas or beans or something similar to keep the vitamins balanced, then spoon over the delicious mouthwatering rich sauce.
Nutrition
Notes
Tried this recipe?
Let us know how it was!For more lamb recipes Click Here
#BraisedLambShanks #SlowCookedLamb #RaumatiKitchenDiaries
Leave a Reply