Braised Lamb Shanks

NP and I have always enjoyed lamb, at least in the few rare opportunities that we've had it. However, when we bought our first butcher lamb last year, I had never cooked lamb before. I started out with lamb chops and seasoned them with garlic and rosemary. It was good and I stuck with these same seasonings (which are favorites of mine anyway) as I experimented with other cuts of lamb. Now that I've tried a few things, I am starting to branch out and experiment more. So, last weekend, I tried this braised lamb shank recipe and it was a hit! Even with the one year old 'food critic'!! So I thought I'd share it with you :)

Your finished lamb shanks will be fall apart tender! I served these with steamed carrots and purple waffle fries but serving over mashed potatoes would be amazing! My family just isn't really into purple mashed potatoes and purple taters are the only thing I had on hand at the time so I opted for waffle fries. Will plan better and serve with mashed potatoes next time!

Enjoy!
​Emily

Ingredients

• 4lbs lamb shanks
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp olive oil , separated
• 2 garlic cloves , minced
• 1 onion, chopped (white, brown, yellow)
• 1 carrot , finely chopped (optional, but recommended)
• 1/4 cup flour
• 3.5 cups beef broth (I used 4 beef bouillon cubes + 3.5 cups water)
• 3 cups merlot (Note 2)
• 5 sprigs fresh thyme or 2 tsp dried thyme
• 3 dried bay leaves
• 4 stalks fresh parsley 

Instructions

1. Season shanks with salt and pepper.
2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a skillet over high heat. Add 2 lamb shanks and cook, turning, until browned. Place browned shank in the crockpot then repeat with remaining lamb.
3. Turn heat down to medium. Add remaining 1 tbsp oil, garlic, onion, and carrot. Sauté for 5 minutes until onion is softened.
4. Add flour. Mix into onion mixture.
5. Add remaining ingredients. Mix together - don't worry about the lumps, they will dissolve while cooking.
6. Pour over the lamb in the crock pot. The meat should be mostly submerged. Turn crock pot on low and cook for 8 hours. If you don't have room for all of the liquid in your skillet, don't worry. Just add what you can and add the rest to the crockpot.
7. Remove lamb into a bowl.
8. Optional: Strain sauce into a bowl. Use spoon to press into onion etc to squeeze out all the flavourful liquid. Pour sauce into a sauce pan
9. Increase heat to medium high and reduce liquid by half or until it thickens to a syrup consistency - this step is optional but totally worth it! There will be quite a bit of juices left over, so you can make just a portion of them into sauce if you want. *Your juices will reduce down by about half so spoon out however much you think you might want as a finished product and then double it.*
10. Return lamb shanks and juices pooled in the bowl into sauce to reheat, then serve with creamy mashed potato, garnished with parsley.

Browning the lamb shanks in the skillet

Already browned shanks just chillin' in the crockpot!

Not used to seeing purple sauce!

Pour the veggies and what sauce fit in the skillet over the browned lamb shanks in the crockpot.

That's a full crockpot! Turn 'er on and walk away :)

I love crock pots! Transfer the lamb shanks to a plate and dip out however much of the juices you want to make into sauce.

Your finished lamb shanks will be fall apart tender! I served these with steamed carrots and purple waffle fries but serving over mashed potatoes would be amazing! My family just isn't really into purple mashed potatoes and purple taters are the only thing I had on hand at the time so I opted for waffle fries.