Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Easy Dinner Recipe - Italian Lamb Shanks

I cooked these lamb shanks for dinner the other night - great for when it's a little cold outside. We've been having very changeable weather lately. It was a lovely hot 32 degrees the other day but now it's back to winter weather.


This meal is super easy - one of those ones that you can chuck everything into the pan and then let simmer while you play with the kids or sneak off and browse blogs on your iPad....

It's the way to my husband's heart.

Take some lamb shanks (anywhere between 2 to 6 for this recipe) and season them in flour, salt and pepper. 


In a pan saute the lamb shanks, onion, garlic and celery with a little olive oil until the meat is browned and the onion mix is transparent.  I have used red onion in the photo as it was all I had, but I usually use brown onions. This is one of those recipes where quantities don't matter too much. I only had 2 lamb shanks so I used 1 onion, 2 sticks of celery and 2 garlic cloves. If I was using more shanks I 'd double that amount, possibly not double the garlic though.

Once the meat is browned, add a teaspoon of sugar, a teaspoon of salt, a tin of died tomatoes, a cup of stock or water and half a cup of dry white wine (if you don't have any open you can skip this, or just drink it yourself if the kids are annoying you) and some aromatic herbs. I added a bay leaf and some thyme from the garden. Rosemary is also a good option.

Bring to the boil, lower the heat and cover. Now just let this simmer for around 90 minutes to 2 hours until the shanks are tender. Enough time for you to go and catch up on all your favourite blogs.

At this stage you can add sliced mushrooms and cook for a further 10 minutes or you can just serve.

This is divine served with gnocchi, mashed potato or pasta.
 This is divine served with gnocchi, mashed potato or pasta.

all this equals a happy husband...

cheers Fiona

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