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This is a wonderful recipe I made this with lamb shanks as I was only making for 2. I added more vegetables to make this a good main dish, as I am trying to cook less starchy carbs in the evening and I would usually serve this over mash potato to soak up all the gravy. I will look forward to trying this again with a leg of lamb when I am cooking for more people either way it works really well. The lamb comes out so tender and really is just falling apart. I had to literally hold the meat on the bone so it looked good enough for a photo. A truly excellent recipe that would be a definite crowd pleaser. If you want to read more reviews or see more photos of this dish please click here.
Ingredients
1 (3 kg) Leg of lamb (I did lamb shanks as I was only making for 2)
4 onions, peeled and sliced
8-12 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole
4 large carrots, peeled and quartered length ways
300 ml white wine
300 ml stock (I did half chicken and half beef as it was not listed.)
2 tablespoons armagnac or madeira wine
salt and pepper
3 sprigs fresh thyme
2 Sprigs fresh rosemary (my addition)
As I said above I added more vegetables being parsnips and leeks along with the carrots and onions, I halved the onion amount as I was adding 2 leeks to mix it up a bit. I also thickened at the end with some chicken gravy granules not many as to spoil the wonderful natural taste the lamb had imparted into the liquid stock.
Method
TRADITIONAL OVEN METHOD
1. Preheat the oven to 120 degrees C or 100 F, gas mark 1/2. Season the leg of lamb with salt and pepper to taste.
2. Put the casserole or roasting tin on the hob and brown the lamb thoroughly on all sides (it is important to do this now as the meat will not brown in the oven). If the lamb sticks add a little oil to the casserole. Use the cooker extractor fan to disperse any smoke. Drain away any fat that has gathered in the bottom of the pan.
3. Add the vegetables to the casserole along with the white wine and stock. Season and bring to the boil.
4. Put on the lid or cover tightly with tin foil and place in the pre heated oven. Bake for 7 hours, turning twice during this time. The meat will be cooked after 5 hours and offer no resistance to the knife.
5. The meat requires no resting time when cooked in this way. Transfer the meat and vegetables to a serving platter. Strain the meat juices into a jug and pour or blot away the fat with kitchen paper. Pour the juices into a pan and boil vigorously until reduced by a quarter.
6. Adjust the seasoning and add the Armagnac or Madeira. Garnish the lamb with the sprigs of thyme and serve with the sauce. Use a spoon to carve and serve the lamb – a la cuillere as the French call it. It will be tender, succulent and delicious !
CROCK-POT COOKING METHOD
1. Carry out steps 3 and 4 as shown above; then place into the crock-pot and cook on high for 2 hours and then on low for about 6 hours, or until the lamb is cooked as instructed above – soft and spoonable!
Serve as before.
All photos taken by me unless otherwise stated.
This is the last recipe I made this month for the swap I am in and it was very good. I will say a couple of things to point out, use a light blond beer, I made with a strong brown and it is way to overpowering. I also made some caramelized red onion as a topper for the shanks, which went really well with it. The recipe was a great fall off the bone lamb shank recipe, I did add some bisto gravy granules at the end, to thicken into a sauce and because I used such a strong beer, I wanted to adjust the flavour. I served mine over mashed potato and I also crushed some of the cloves of garlic into the sauce for added garlic flavour. It was excellent and one I will be making again, if you want to see the original recipe please click here.
Ingredients
1kg Lamb shank (4 medium shanks)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
Pepper to taste
2 Medium brown onions, sliced (I only used 1 as I made caramelized red onion to top lamb shanks.)
12 Garlic cloves, peeled (I crushed 4 of them)
200g Mushrooms, coarsely sliced
1 Cup beer (Use a blond mild beer)
1 Cup of water (I added this as my shanks were huge and there was not enough liquid with just the beer.)
1 Tablespoon worcestershire sauce
2 Teaspoons beef stock powder
400g Crushed tomatoes
1 Teaspoon dried oregano
1 Teaspoon dried basil
1 Teaspoon dried thyme
1 Bay leaf, broken into quarters (I added 2)
I added 4-5 tablespoons of bisto gravy granules to thicken at the end and to add a bit more flavour.
Method
1. Heat oil in pan over medium to high heat and brown lamb shanks on all sides.
2. Season lamb shanks with pepper.
3. Place sliced onions at bottom of crock pot and put lamb shanks on top drizzled with remaining oil and juices from the pan.
4. Place mushrooms and garlic cloves over the top.
5. Mix beer, water, Worcestershire sauce, stock powder, tomatoes, oregano, basil, thyme and bay leaf in a bowl.
6. Pour mixture over the top of lamb shanks.
7. Cook in crock pot on low for 6-8 hours depending on your crock pot.
8. Remove bay leaves. I removed the shanks and added the bisto at this stage, stirred to heat and thicken.
9. Serve with vegetables and juices poured over the top of the shanks.
I also cooked the entire thing in a pot on the stove over a low heat as I do not have a crock pot. I did cook the onions, crushed garlic and mushrooms to the pan and browned slightly before adding the lamb and pouring the sauce over, covered and cooked for about 4 hours.
I served mine over mash.
All photos taken by me unless otherwise stated.
