Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks With Soft Polenta Recipes

SLOW COOKED LAMB SHANKS WITH SOFT POLENTA

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 160°C(315°F). Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed casserole dish. It should be big enough to fit the shanks in a single layer. Lightly dust the shanks in the flour and brown in casserole dish. Remove from dish.
• Add onion and cook gently for a few minutes. Stir in garlic, celery, carrot and parsnip. Pour in wine and let come back up to heat, about 1 minute. Return the shanks to the dish. Add the stock, passata herbs and orange peel. Cover and bake for 2 hours or until shanks are tender.
• Gently remove the shanks from the dish and arrange on a warm serving plate. Spoon the vegetables and gravy over the shanks. Discard herbs. Serve with the polenta.
• Polenta: Bring the stock and water to the boil. Slowly rain in the polenta, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer over low heat for 5-6 minutes or until mix starts to leave the side of the pot. Remove from heat, add butter and season with salt and pepper. Spoon into a warm serving dish.

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.

BRAISED LAMB SHANKS ON SOFT POLENTA WITH BAY LEAVES

Steps:

• Combine 2 cups hot water and mushrooms in small bowl. Let stand until mushrooms soften, about 30 minutes.
• Using vegetable peeler, remove peel (orange part only) from oranges in long strips. Squeeze juice from oranges; reserve peel and juice. Tie bay leaves, rosemary sprigs, and cloves in square of moistened cheesecloth.
• Heat 4 tablespoons olive oil in wide pot over medium-high heat. Add onions; sauté until golden, about 12 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer onions to small bowl. Add 2 tablespoons oil to pot. Sprinkle lamb with salt and pepper. Add 3 lamb shanks to pot. Sauté until brown on all sides, about 10 minutes. Transfer to plate. Repeat with remaining shanks. Return onions to pot. Using slotted spoon, add mushrooms, then mushroom soaking liquid, leaving any sediment in bowl. Add orange peel and juice, herb bundle, wine, and tomato paste. Boil 5 minutes, scraping up browned bits.
• Return lamb to pot, arranging in single layer. Add broth; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover; simmer 30 minutes. Partially uncover pot. Simmer until lamb is tender, turning every 15 minutes, about 1 1/2 hours longer.
• Transfer lamb to bowl. Tilt pot and spoon fat off top of sauce. Boil until sauce is thick enough to coat spoon lightly and is reduced to 5 cups, about 35 minutes. Discard herb bundle and orange peel. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Return lamb to pot, spooning sauce over to coat. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Refrigerate lamb, uncovered, until cold, then cover and keep refrigerated. Rewarm over low heat before continuing.)
• Spoon polenta onto large platter. Arrange lamb atop polenta. Spoon sauce over lamb and serve.
• *Dried porcini mushrooms are available at Italian markets, specialty foods stores, and many supermarkets.

MEDITERRANEAN LAMB SHANKS WITH CREAMY POLENTA

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Sprinkle lamb with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in large ovenproof pot over high heat. Add lamb; brown on all sides, about 10 minutes total. Using tongs, transfer lamb to plate. Add 1 tablespoon oil to pot. Add onion, carrots, celery, and garlic. Sauté until vegetables brown and begin to soften, scraping up browned bits, about 10 minutes. Return lamb to pot, pushing gently into vegetables. Add tomatoes, broth, rosemary sprigs, thyme sprigs, and peppercorns. Bring to boil over high heat. Cover pot; transfer to oven. Roast until meat is tender and pulls easily from bone, turning occasionally, about 2 hours.
• Meanwhile, bring 8 cups water and salt to boil in large saucepan over high heat. Gradually whisk in polenta. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer until thickened and tender, stirring frequently, about 22 minutes. Whisk in butter and minced thyme. Season with salt and pepper.
• Remove lamb and herbs from pot; discard herbs. Place pot over medium-high heat and boil until sauce is slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Divide polenta among 6 large bowls; top each with 1 lamb shank. Pour sauce over; serve.

SLOW COOKER LAMB SHANKS

Steps:

• Heat half the oil in a large frying pan.
• Toss the lamb in flour that has been seasoned with salt and pepper; shake away excess and cook the lamb over high heat until browned all over; transfer to the bowl of a slow cooker.
• Add remaining oil the the same pan and sauté onions, carrots and garlic, stirring, over a medium heat for about 2 minutes or until the onion is starting to soften and then add the tomato paste and cook stirring for a further minute.
• Add the wine to the pan, bring to the boil and then stir in stock, undrained tomatoes, sugar and bouquet garni and bring the boil; pour over the lamb in the slow cooker, making sure the lamb is covered by the liquid.
• Cover and cook for 6 to 8 hours on the low setting or until lamb is soft and fall off the bone (see notes).
• Remove the lamb from the slow cooker and cover to keep warm.
• Turn the cooker to the high setting, cook uncovered for about 30 minutes or until sauce thicken slightly, removing any fat from the surface.
• Serve the lamb with the sauce, instant polenta and steamed green vegetables, if desired.
• Suitable to freeze but not to microwave.
• JULIE'S NOTES - I made this dish simultaneously in two types of slow cookers. It was interesting to see how the low settings differed between them. The cooking varied by about 2 hours, as one cooker had a much lower heat than the other. It is important to keep an eye out, taste as you go and use your own judgement. Bouquet garni is a bundle of fresh herbs, usually by leaf, sprig of thyme and parsley stalks, tied together with kitchen string. The bundle is removed at the end of cooking and discarded.