Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Braised lamb shanks

 
I am sharing with you our new year's eve dinner, every once in a while I want to cook a special meal without anything special in mind, I love just going to a nice grocery store and browse the aisles looking for a nice protein. This time was attracted me was lamb shanks and I had that nice recipe from Anne Burrell, it reminded me a lot of her meat sauce which I LOVE!!! I did divide the recipe in half since it was only the two of us. Can you believe that I never had lambs shanks before?!! I had leg of lamb that my dad use to roast to a nice medium rare with some herbs and I loved it, it is one of dishes I miss the most I have to say.

Oh and the left over sauce is DELICIOUS, makes a wonderful pasta sauce, it's unbelievably meaty!!!

Braised lamb shanks
Recipe adapted from Anne Burrell
Ingredients 
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 lamb shanks
- salt & pepper
- 1 onion, roughly chopped
- 2 large carrots, roughly chopped
- 2 celery stalks, roughly chopped
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 small can tomato paste
- 1 c red wine
- 1 bunch of thyme tied with kitchen twine
- 1 to 2 c water
- 2 bay leaves

Directions
- Preheat the oven to 400 F.
- Coat a Dutch oven (I used a 3.5 quart one) with oil, bring to a high heat.
- Puree the onions, carrots, celery and garlic in a food processor fitted with a metal blade, into a coarse paste, reserve.

- Season the shanks generously with salt and add them to the pan. Brown well on all sides and reserve.


- Discard the excess fat from the Dutch oven, add a little more oil to coat the bottom of the pan and add the pureed veggies. Season with salt, to taste. Saute the veggies until they are very brown and aromatic, about 20 minutes. Be careful not to let it burn, don't rush this step.
- Add the tomato paste and brown for 5 minutes. Stir in the wine and thyme bundle. Stir frequently and cook until the wine has reduced by about half.
- Add the shanks back to the pot and pour in 1 to 2 cups of water until the shanks are 3/4 submersed. Add the bay leaves to the pan, cover and put in the preheated oven. The cooking time will be about 2 1/2 hours. Turn the shanks over about halfway through the cooking time. Check the shanks every 45 min or so. If the liquid has reduced too much add more water. Defat as you go (mine were not fatty at all).
- Remove the lid during the last 30 minutes of cooking time for maximum browning. When the shanks are done the meat should be incredibly tender and flavorful.

Enjoy!!! (I served them with oven baked fries)

3 comments:

  1. Looks YUMMY!! I'm bringing you a bunch of grapefruits from my tree!! We need some good recipes for what to do with all those millions of grapefruit we all have in Florida at this time of year!!! ; )

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    Replies
    1. Oh that sounds exciting!!! I am getting on that right away, I love being given an ingredients and try to find what I can do with it, it's so much fun!!!! Florida grapefruits are the best, so nice and sweet!

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    2. Just having a quick look at my recipe collection, I found two cakes, one juice and one salad that look yummy!!! I might just have to do that for the potluck!

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