Tonight I decided to delve into the realm of fancy type cooking. I usually am the Grill Master and Smoker Master, so this was a step in a different direction for me. I’ve been craving Lamb for about 3 weeks and last night Danielle brought home 4 Lamb shanks for me and I decided I would cook them today. I found a recipe online and went to the store to grab a couple things we did not have on hand an onion and whole bay leaves namely.
The prep to making this dish was a BITCH! I spent 1 hr and 15 minutes just prepping them to be put in the oven. I had to cut onion, cut garlic, pour this, pour that. I did not realize a clove of garlic was not that big white piece the garlic lives in so I proceeded to break about 4 large white things and then was informed that I had actually broken apart 16 cloves of garlic, stupid me. It went pretty quick, once I realized I was chopping too much garlic and stopped.
Here is the recipe for this fine dish:
* 6 lamb shanks (trimmed of fat)
* 1 large onion
* 4 garlic cloves
* 3 cups beef stock
* 1 cup red wine
* 1 tablespoon italian seasoning
* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
* 1/2 cup flour
* 1 teaspoon fresh coarse ground black pepper
* 4 bay leaves
* salt and pepper
1. Combine flour and pepper in large ziplock bag (I used a freezer bag).
2. Dredge lamb shanks in flour.
3. Thinly slice onion, mince garlic.
4. Heat oil in large frying pan.
5. Fry shanks until golden brown on each side.
6. Turn with tongs.
7. Place shanks in Dutch Oven, or large oven proof pot with lid.
8. Add minced garlic and bay leaves to pot.
9. Add onion slices to frying pan.
10. Cook stirring occasionally until onion is soft.
11. Add red wine to frying pan.
12. Cook stirring occasionally until slightly syrupy, approximately five minutes.
13. Pour onion mixture over shanks.
14. Sprinkle Italian seasoning over shanks.
15. Pour beef stock into pot.
16. Cook in 375 F oven for 2 hours and 15 minutes.
17. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
18. If desired sauce may be thickened by removing lamb shanks to plate and simmering sauce on stove top for 15 minutes or until it coats the back of a spoon.
19. Return shanks to sauce to rewarm.
I’ve attached a few photos of the beginning and the end. I paired the shanks with mashed potatoes and peas and carrots. As the meat finished at the 2 hr 15 minute mark, the meat was falling off of the bone. The only thing I would have done is thickened the sauce up so it was more of a gravy, but not having it as a gravy did not take away from the flavors. We also enjoyed an 07, J. Lohr Cab to drink with it and it went with the meat wonderfully.
As for desert, I had a Cohiba Siglo II tubo and some Lagavulin 16 and Danielle had one of her vanilla Tatiana cigars and some more cab. No better way to end the night than with a tasty cigar and a good scotch. It was a great night full of good food and I can’t wait to do it again.
Mmmmm dinner was goooood!!! I thought it was hilarious that you peeled and chopped 4 whole bulbs of garlic. Good thing Patrick stopped you or we’d all be stinking today!