How To Cook Lamb Shanks Recipes

HOW TO COOK LAMB SHANKS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 °F (163 °C).
• Wash and trim the shanks. Wash the shanks and use a sharp knife to remove some of the larger deposits of fat, but don't trim the shanks of all visible fat. The fat will render and contribute to the flavor of the final dish.
• Heat the oil. Pour the oil into a large dutch oven or another oven-safe dish and place it over medium high heat. Allow it to heat completely, until it begins to smoke just slightly.
• Brown the lamb shanks. Season the shanks with salt and pepper on all sides. Place them in the hot oil and brown them on all three sides. Brown each side for about 4 minutes, enough to get a good sear on each side. Don't cook the lamb shanks all the way through. Browning them will bring out the deep flavor of the shanks, but longer cooking will bring about the soft, fall-apart texture you want. Make sure the oil is nice and hot before you put the shanks in the pot.
• Add the vegetables, peppercorns and wine. Arrange the vegetables and garlic cloves around the lamb shanks, and drop in the peppercorns. Pour the wine over the entire contents of the pot. Let the red wine come to a boil, and boil it for three minutes. Add the water and reduce the heat to bring everything to a quick simmer. Boiling the wine for three minutes will lower the alcohol content a bit, leaving the deep flavor of the wine behind. With the addition of the water, the shanks and vegetables should be fully submerged in liquid. If they aren't, add a little more water.
• Cover the dish and transfer it to the oven for braising. If you don't have a tight-fitting lid for the dutch oven, cover it tightly with aluminum foil. Place it in the oven and braise it for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Every half hour, remove it from the oven and turn the shanks so they cook evenly. After 1 hour and 30 minutes, the shanks should be quite tender. If they aren't, return them to the oven and continue braising, checking every 15 minutes until they've reached the correct texture.
• Strain and reduce the braising liquid. Transfer the cooked lamb shanks to a serving platter. Pour the braising liquid through a fine-mesh sieve to strain out the vegetables and keep the liquid. Pour the liquid into a saucepan and cook it over medium heat, stirring often, until it has reduced and become a thick sauce. Season it with salt and pepper to taste. To make the sauce thicker, add a teaspoon of cornstarch.
• Serve the lamb shanks. Pour the braising liquid over the lamb shanks and serve the dish with roasted vegetables or mashed potatoes. Each shank is enough for one serving.

HEAVENLY LAMB SHANKS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
• Heat the olive oil in a heavy, metal roasting pan on the stove over medium-high heat. Toss shanks with flour to coat well; then shake off excess. Sear the shanks in hot oil until well browned on all sides, then remove from pan and set aside.
• Add the leek, celery, carrot, onion, and garlic to the roasting pan. Cook until softened and lightly browned, stirring constantly; about 5 minutes. Season with the bay leaf, peppercorns, thyme and rosemary sprigs. Pour in the red wine and chicken stock, increase heat to high, and bring to a simmer. Season to taste with sea salt, and place the lamb shanks on top of the vegetables.
• Cover the roasting pan tightly with heavy aluminum foil, and place into the preheated oven. Bake gently until the meat is tender and falls off of the bone, 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Remove the bay leaf and herb stems before serving shanks with vegetables and sauce.

BRAISED LAMB SHANKS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat the olive oil in a large, deep Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid over moderate heat until hot but not smoking. Season the lamb shanks with salt and pepper and cook, in batches if necessary, turning with tongs, until well browned, about 10 minutes each batch. Remove the lamb shanks with tongs to a plate and set aside.
• Stir the onions, carrots, rosemary, bay leaves, and garlic into the dutch oven and cook, stirring, until the onions are very soft, about 5 minutes. Add 2 1/2 cups of the wine and deglaze the pan. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for 5 minutes. Taste for seasoning.
• Return the lamb shanks to the pot and braise the mixture, tightly covered, in the oven for 1 hour. Uncover and braise for 2 more hours, turning the shanks every 30 minutes. Stir in the turnips and the remaining 1/2 cup of the wine, and continue to braise, in the oven for 30 minutes. Discard the bay leaves. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• While the lamb shanks are braising, make the gremolata: chop together the rosemary, orange zest, and garlic. Place each lamb shank on a serving plate, top with the vegetables, sprinkle with gremolata and serve immediately.

BASIC BRAISED LAMB SHANKS

Steps:

• Place lamb in a greased 2-1/2-qt. baking dish. Combine the broth, soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic and mustard; pour over meat. Cover and bake at 325° for 1-1/2 to 2 hours or until the meat is tender.

BAKED LAMB SHANKS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
• Put the oil in a baking dish, add the lamb shanks, turn to coat evenly and bake 30 minutes, turning once.
• Combine the onions with the allspice, nutmeg, salt and pepper, mix well, and spoon the mixture on top of the lamb shanks. Combine the tomatoes with the oregano and spoon on top of the onion mixture. Carefully pour the water around the shanks.
• Turn the oven to 400 degrees and bake for 1 1/2 hours, or until meat is tender, basting occasionally. If the dish begins to dry out, add more hot water. Add chickpeas to the juices 10 minutes before the end of the cooking time. Mix everything gently and spoon some sauce over each shank when serving.

SLOW-COOKER LAMB SHANKS

Steps:

• If you need to preheat your slow cooker then turn it on now. In a large hot frying pan, add half the oil and brown the lamb shanks all over, then transfer them to the slow cooker. This will take you about 10 mins and you may need to do it in batches. Add the remaining oil to the frying pan and fry the onion gently until it starts to turn translucent, then stir in the tomato purée and flour and cook for a minute.
• Add the red wine and bring it to a boil, stirring the flour and purée into the wine until you have a smooth sauce around the onion pieces. Tip into the slow cooker. Pour the stock into the same pan and bring it to a boil, then tip into the slow cooker. Add the carrots garlic, bay leaves, thyme and parsley stalks to the slow cooker and put the lid on. Cook on low for eight hours or on high for four hours. Turn the shanks over at some point during the cooking.
• After eight hours the lamb should be tender and starting to fall off the bone. If the sauce is too thin lift out the lamb and carrots and tip the sauce into a pan, boil it rapidly until it starts to thicken before adding the parsley.

CROCK POT LAMB SHANKS

Steps:

• Heat oil in pan over medium to high heat and brown lamb shanks on all sides.
• Season lamb shanks with pepper.
• Place sliced onions at bottom of crock pot and put lamb shanks on top drizzled with remaining oil and juices from the pan.
• Place mushrooms and garlic cloves over the top.
• Mix beer, Worcestershire sauce, stock powder, tomatoes, oregano, basil, thyme and bay leaf in a bowl.
• Pour mixture over the top of lamb shanks.
• Cook in crock pot on low for 6-8 hours depending on your crock pot.
• Remove bay leaves.
• Serve with vegetables and juices poured over the top of the shanks. I served over wholegrain bread but mashed potatoes would be the best match.