Lamb Shank with Root Vegetables was dinner yesterday evening. I first browned the shanks in a little oil in a Le Creuset casserole pan and roughly chopped two celery stalks, two carrots, an onion and peeled two cloves of garlic. When the shanks were browned I removed them and put all the vegetables into the pan and cooked on a high heat for 3 or 4 minutes before adding a sprig each of parsley and rosemary and six whole peppercorns.
I then added a glass of red wine to the pan and boiled it hard until reduced and syrupy. Then again with a second glass of red wine. Doing this gives a wonderful richness to the finished sauce without the nasty raw flavour of red wine which comes from not reducing it first. Finally I added some stock and returned the shanks to the pan, put the lid on and put it into the oven at 150c for 2 hours.
After two hours I removed the pan from the oven, took the shanks out of the pan, and strained the liquid off. The shanks and strained liquid were then returned to the pan to which was added newly chopped fresh vegetables (these were carrots and swede in my case), a few peeled shallots since I didn’t have any small onions and some small whole potatoes. Then back into the oven for another 45 minutes or so.
This was how we ate the shanks last night but, had we had some, I’d have enjoyed a few boiled greens with the dish.