Jean Hall's Lamb Shanks
How many of you are lucky enough to get tasty recipes from the sheep-savvy mother of your "large" animal veterinarian? One degree of separation works for me!
Ingredients
- 4 lamb shanks (if using Soay, use 6 to keep proportions right)
- 1 tsp coarse salt
- 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
- 3 Tblsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion cut in half lengthwise and slivered
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1 cup dry red wine
- 2 Tblsp honey
- 4 large cloves garlic lightly bruised
- 2 three-inch long cinnamon sticks
- 4 fresh sage leaves
- dash ground cloves
- 1 cup coarsely chopped plum tomatos
- 1 and 1/2 cups pitted prunes
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
Directions
- Sprinkle lamb with salt and pepper.
- Heat 2 Tbls olive oil in large heavy pan or casserole over medium heat. Sauté 2 shanks at a time until well browned, about 8 minutes per side (less if you are using Soay).
Remove lamb and pour off any fat.
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Over low heat, cook onion in remaining 1 Tblsp oil, stirring occasionally, until tender/soft, about 10 minutes.
- Add lamb and all remaining ingredients except mint. Bring to a boil. Cover pan and bake at 350F until meat is soft, about 1 hour (less if you are using Soay).
- Stir in tomatos and prunes and continue baking uncovered until both are blended into sauce, about 45 minutes longer.
- Before serving, stir in fresh mint.
I don't usually make recipes with such a long ingredient list, but other than unscrewing your bottles of spices, the only work involved is chopping the onion. I think you'll agree the long list is worth it.
It's always a little bit tricky figuring out how to cut down times to suit small heritage sheep meat like Soay. Err on the side of cooking less and checking more until you figure out what works with the lamb meat on your countertop.
Bon appétit!