Braised Lamb Shanks

Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks

Proper comfort food with meat that literally melts in your mouth.

Cooked in a deliciously rich, red wine gravy, the lamb was literally falling off the bone.

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This is the ultimate comfort food for cold and dark days, if you like lamb, you will be certain to like my Lamb Boulangère.

What are Lamb Shanks?

Lamb shanks are from the lower leg of lambs. 

They are an inexpensive and tough cut of meat; although with that said, I have noticed the price go up in recent times as they are becoming very popular and are on most pub restaurant menus.

Lamb shanks need to be slow-cooked; either braised or roasted, in order to break down the tough meat to soften into delicious tenderness.

The meat itself is full of flavour which adds to the flavour of the sauce and the marrow in the bone melts into the sauce, adding real flavour and richness.

How to Cook Lamb Shanks

The good news is will be hard pushed to overcook lamb shanks. So, if you happen to leave them for an hour too long, fear not! 

The meat will still be succulent and juicy. The worst that will happen is that the meat falls off the bone when you go to serve it, but the meat will be delicious! 😋

I served the lamb shanks with roasted carrots and parsnips and crispy roast potatoes.

Next time, I think I'll go with creamy mashed potatoes for serious comfort food!

Have you tried this recipe? Please leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ star rating in the recipe card below!

lamb shanks recipe, braised lamb shanks, slow cooked lamb shanks, red wine gravy,

main, dinner, lamb

English

Yield: 2

Author: Jan Bennett

Braised Lamb Shanks Recipe

This is delicious but very filling!

Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 2 H & 15 MTotal time: 2 H & 30 M

Ingredients

• 50g unsalted butter - divided into 3
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 2 lamb shanks
• 3 red onions - sliced
• 3 fat cloves of garlic - finely chopped
• 2 carrots - peeled and quartered
• 2 sticks of celery - each cut into four pieces
• a couple of sprigs of thyme - leaves only and chopped
• 1 sprig of rosemary - leaves only and finely chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 heaped tablespoon of tomato puree (paste in the US)
• 2 or 3 tablespoons of redcurrant jelly
• a tablespoon of good quality balsamic vinegar
• 400ml beef stock - made from a Knorr stock cube (OXO cube will not be the same as it's too salty)
• 400ml red wine
• 1 tablespoon of port
• a splash of Worcestershire sauce
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to season

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 170°C/325°F or Gas 3

1. Get yourself a nice casserole dish with a lid that can go both on top of the stove and inside the oven.
2. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil and a piece of the divided butter. Brown the shanks - when they're nicely coloured, remove and set aside.
3. Now in the same pan, without washing it, add another glug of oil and another piece of butter. Gently fry the onions until they are soft but not coloured.
4. Put the carrots and celery in and cook for a couple of minutes before adding the garlic.
5. Fry for another minute or so and then add the chopped thyme and rosemary along with the tomato purée, cook for a minute or so otherwise it will taste bitter. Don't let the garlic burn!
6. Now add the bay leaf, stock, wine, and redcurrant jelly and give everything a good stir and bring to the boil.
7. Have a taste (take no notice of the very liquid state of the gravy at this stage) as that will be sorted in the end. Put the lamb back in and on with the lid and into your preheated oven.
8. Because the liquid won't be enough to cover the lamb skanks, you will have to turn them and give them a stir now and then, say every 45 minutes to an hour.
9. They will need about 2 to 2½ hours, by which time the meat will very easily come fall off the bone. When they're nicely done, remove the shanks and cover to keep warm.
10. Put the casserole on the stovetop and bring the liquid to a boil before adding the balsamic, port and Worcestershire sauce
11. Turn the heat down just a little as you need the liquid to reduce.
12. Have a taste and adjust the seasoning - you may want to add a little more redcurrant jelly or port.
13. When it's nicely reduced (shouldn't take long) stir in the last piece of butter to make a nice glossy sauce and serve immediately. Don't forget to remove the bay leaves before serving!

https://www.aglugofoil.com/2010/01/lamb-skanks-in-red-wine-redcurrant-and.html

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