I recipenapped this one from the recipe swap I am in this month, meaning this was not one of my team mates recipes. I was looking for a lamb shank recipe and I found this, it sounded so good, I had to try it and I am glad I did. The only changes I made was to add cornflour and bisto gravy granules at the end to thicken. I also did not have beef broth so I added 1 litre of water with 1 beef boullion cube, I only used one as I knew I was going to adding the bisto at the end and did not want to make it too beefy tasting. It was the perfect balance came out just right, lamb was tender and falling off the bone, and thickening i,t gave a wonderful gravy to pour over the shanks. If you want to read more reviews or see more photos of this recipe click here.

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Ingredients

2 Tablespoons cumin seeds
3 Tablespoons coriander seeds
1 Teaspoon salt
4 Lamb shanks (about 250g each)
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Onion, finely chopped
1 Carrot, finely chopped
2 Stalks celery, trimmed and finely chopped
4 Garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
400g Tomatoes, drained and roughly chopped
200ml Dry red wine
200ml Port wine
1 Liter beef stock
I add a combination of bisto gravy granules and cornflour to thicken into a gravy to pour over shanks at the end.

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160°C.

2. Using a morter and pestle, roughly crush the cumin and coriander seeds until fragrant. Add salt and mix well.

3. Sprinkle over the lamb shanks and press on to coat.

4. In a large deep heavy based, oven proof dish, heat the oil over medium heat and brown the shanks well. Remove and set aside.

5. Place the onion, carrot and celery in the same dish and saute over medium heat until soft. Add the garlic, tomatoes and stir.

6. Pour in the wine and port, stir then add the beef stock. Bring to the boil then turn off the heat.

7. Return the lamb to the pan, cover with aluminium foil and place in the oven for 3 hours or until the meat almost falls off the bone.

8. Remove from the oven and lift out the shanks. Set aside and keep warm.

9. Skim as much fat as you can off the surface of the cooking liquid and return to the stove top over medium heat to simmer and reduce to a slightly syrupy consistency.

Serve with mashed potatoes or polenta. I served mine over mash.

All photos taken by me unless otherwise stated.