Braised lamb shanks: a sumptuous weekend one pot

• 27 November 2020, 4:28pm
• From Spectator Life

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Alexander Larman

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By the time the dish comes out of the oven, the sauce should be glossy, thick and spoonable, crying out to be spooned over the shanks and any accompanying carbs. If, for any reason it isn’t, you can remove the shanks and set them to one side while you quickly bubble the sauce to a spoon-coating consistency.

Lamb shanks are made for mash and leafy green veg; usually I’d pop this on the side, but you could spoon the mash on top of the lamb, and oven bake for 30 minutes, to make the poshest shepherd’s pie you’ve ever had. It makes fantastic leftovers too – as a ragu stirred through thick pappardelle-style noodles, served alongside buttery polenta, or just with a generous portion of salty oven chips.

Braised lamb shanks

3 tablespoons neutral oil

4 small lamb shanks (or 1.2kg total bone-in weight of lamb shanks)

1 small onion, peeled and finely diced

2 carrots, peeled and finely diced

2 tablespoons plain flour

1 tablespoon tomato puree

3 sprigs rosemary

150ml red wine

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

500ml lamb stock

1. Preheat the oven to 180*. First, brown your lamb shanks: heat the oil in a casserole dish over a medium heat, turning the shanks every couple of minutes to brown as much of the surface as possible. Set the shanks to one side.
2. Lower the heat and add the chopped onions and carrots to the dish, stirring and cooking until the vegetables are softened but not coloured. Stir the flour, and then the rosemary and tomato purée through the veg.
3. Deglaze the pan with the red wine, scraping up any brown bits that have stuck to the bottom of the pan. Add the red wine vinegar and the lamb stock, return the lamb shanks to the pot, and bring the sauce up to a simmer. Season generously. Place a tight-fitting lid on the pan and place in the oven for 2 hours. If you have large shanks, you may need to turn them every 45 minutes or so, to ensure that they don’t dry out.
4. If your sauce is lacklustre or thinner than you might wish, set the shanks briefly to one side, and bubble the sauce over a medium heat until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.