One of winter’s most loved dishes, the long, slow cooking of lamb shanks fill the house with their delicious aromas.

Ingredients

4 Lamb shanks (knuckle removed by Butcher)

4-6 Tbs Olive Oil

5-6 Tbs Pain flour (or you can use Gluten Free flour)

2 celery sticks – cut into 4cm pieces

2 carrots – cut into 4cm pieces

2 onions – roughly chopped

6 garlic cloves – peeled

600ml red wine

300ml good chicken stock

1 beef stock cube

1 tin chopped tomatoes (400g)

150ml passata*

2 Tbs tomato puree

1 bouquet garni (thyme sprigs, rosemary, 2 may leaves, celery tops – all tied together with string

6 black pepper corns

Salt & Pepper to season

 

Method

Pre-heat oven to 150^oC

Heat oil in a heavy based fry pan over med-high heat

Toss Lamb shanks in flour with a pinch of salt and pepper. Shake off excess

Sear shanks in the pan until they are well browned on all sides. Remove and transfer into a lidded casserole dish

Add vegetables to fry pan and cook for 3-5 minutes, then add to shanks with chicken stock, stock cube, tomatoes, tomato paste, passata, bouquet garni and peppercorns – stir well.

De-glaze the fry pan with wine and scrape off all the bits and add to casserole dish, stir and cover

Cook in the oven for 3 hours until the meat is pulling away from the bone

Skim any fat from the top of the dish and discard

Serve on a bed of creamy mash, sweet potato mash or polenta

Passata is a finely chopped and sieved tomato sauce – half way between your regular tins of chopped tomatoes and tomato puree. Of course if you make it yourself, even better!