Lamb Shanks ~ Slow Cooked in Red Wine

Lamb shanks - the king of all lamb cuts!! Slow cooked until meltingly tender in a rich, deeply flavoured red wine sauce, this recipe is worthy of fine dining restaurants yet is completely straightforward to make.

Ingredients

• Lamb shanks , around 13 oz each  ·  2 
• kosher salt  ·  1 teaspoon 
• Herbies Pepper Black ASTA, ground  ·  1 teaspoon 
• onion , finely diced (brown, yellow or white)  ·  1 
• x 2 Williamson Extra Virgin Olive Oil, separated  ·  3 tablespoons 
• garlic cloves , minced  ·  3 
• carrot , peeled, finely diced  ·  1 cup 
• celery , finely diced  ·  1 cup 
• Williamson Cabernet Sauvignon Red Wine  ·  2 cups 
• 28oz can crushed tomatoes  ·  1 
• tomato paste  ·  2 tablespoons 
• chicken stock  ·  2 cups 
• Herbies Thyme Leaves, rubbed  ·  2 teaspoons 
• Worcestershire Sauce  ·  1 tablespoon 
• Herbies Bay Leaves - Turkish (whole)  ·  2 

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Season shanks – Pat the lamb shanks dry and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3. Brown – Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large heavy based pot over high heat. Sear the lamb shanks in 2 batches until brown all over, about 5 minutes. Remove lamb onto a plate and drain excess fat (if any) from the pot.
4. Sauté aromatics – Turn the heat down to medium low. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil in the same pot. Add the onion and garlic, cook for 2 minutes. Add carrot and celery. Cook for 5 minutes until onion is translucent and sweet. Onion, carrot and celery is the “holy trinity” of slow cooking, creating a beautiful flavour base for the sauce so don't rush their sautéing step as cooking them for just 5 minutes sweetens them!
5. Braising liquid – Add the red wine, chicken stock, crushed tomato, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, thyme and bay leaves. Stir to combine. Make sure you use a good full bodied red wine, like cabaret sauvignon, merlot or shiraz but not lighter reds like pinot. Almost all of the alcohol in the red wine evaporates during cooking so the sauce does not taste winey at all, it completely transforms.
6. Add shanks – Place the lamb shanks into the pot, squeezing them in to fit so they are mostly submerged.
7. Oven 2 hours covered – Turn stove up, bring liquid to a simmer. Cover, then transfer to the oven for 2 hours (see notes for other cook methods).
8. Uncovered 30 minutes – Remove lid, then return to the oven for another 30 minutes (so 2 1/2 hours in total). Check to ensure lamb meat is ultra tender – if not, cover and keep cooking. Ideal is tender meat but still just holding onto bone.
9. Remove lamb to a plate and keep warm. Pick out and discard bay leaves and thyme.
10. Sauce – Strain the sauce into a bowl, pressing to extract all sauce out of the veggies. See Chef's Note for repurposing the veggies). Pour strained sauce back into pot. If needed, bring to a simmer over medium heat and reduce slightly adding salt and pepper to taste

Jenny's Tip: - Serve the lamb shanks on mashed potato or cauliflower puree with plenty of sauce!

Chef's Note: - Once you strain the sauce, keep the veggies etc., in the strainer to make a terrific sauce, they are loaded with flavour even though all juice is squeezed out of them. Make a basic tomato sauce with garlic, onion, canned tomato and water, then add the veggies to make a killer pasta or lasagna!!