Slow cooked lamb shanks – cooked with red wine and a slug of balsamic

I like my onions sliced like this

This is a simple way to make the most of lamb shanks. If you don’t want a large meal, use smaller ones! Basically this is a stew, with meat on the bone and gravy with a lot of wallop and a very light tang. The carrots and onions become melt-in-the-mouth tender.

I know, there’s no picture of the finished dish. I’m going to have to cook it again soon, and will add the photos then. We were just too busy eating it to take photos!

Serve with a green salad and steamed potatoes.

a flour drenched lamb shank

Ingredients

4 large lamb shanks

plain flour

butter

olive oil

2 onions , thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves , crushed

4 large carrots

100ml balsamic vinegar

500ml red wine, full bodied

2 tbsp tomato purée

½ tsp dried mixed herbs

generous grindings of black pepper

three large pinches of salt

Heat the oven to 400F/200C/Gas Mark 6

                                                     Method

I like my carrot slices assymetrical

• Mix flour, pepper and salt, and drench the lamb shanks with the mixture
• Heat a thick bottomed casserole over a medium heat and add a knob of butter and olive oil
• Add the onions and cook until soft, then scoop out
• Put in the lamb shanks and brown all over
• Put the onions back in the casserole with the garlic, balsamic, wine, tomato purée, herbs and season

ground pepper and salt in a shiny bowl

Cover, put in the oven and cook for 1 hour at Gas Mark 6, then reduce and cook for two hours at 300F/150C/Gas Mark 2, until the meat is almost falling off the bone

If the sauce seems too thin, remove the lamb from the casserole and keep warm and boil down the juices to thicken them

If you have fresh herbs use a sprig each of rosemary and thyme together with a bayleaf.