Incredible Baked Lamb Shanks

Doesn’t this look like a Fred Flintstone kind of meal?  A big hunk of meat on a bone?  I definitely felt like a total cave(wo)man eating this!

A few weeks ago a bunch of got together for an event referred to as Meatluck. So named because every dish from starters to dessert HAD to contain meat.  One of my fave dishes of the evening were the lamb shanks.  I of course had to get the recipe.  Turns out it was a modified version of this Jamie Oliver recipe. I totally love Jamie. Actually, I used to have a pretty ginormous crush on him when he first came on the TV scene.  However, I’ve never made one of his recipes. Until now.

This is a super easy recipe to throw together.  It literally took me about 15-20 mintues to put it all together.  I followed the recipe exactly and didn’t change a thing.  At Meatluck the dish was made with Port which would be a good substitute for the white wine.  The only downside to this dish is that the cooking time is 2.5 hours.  I cheated.  I turned the oven up to 375F for the first hour then turned it down to 350F for an hour and it was ready.  Granted I checked for doneness using my handy dandy meat thermometer, so I was confident the meat was cooked.

The verdict, this was pretty darned delicious!  I’m a sucker for a meal where my veggies cook with my meat.  I’m also ALWAYS on board for anything cooked in wine. I served this over polenta and was very happy with the results.  I did fine the white wine taste a bit too subtle and “thin”, next time I would consider trying Port.  Also, I was too lazy to go to Fiesta Farms to buy Ontario lamb so settled on New Zealand lamb from Whole Foods… I have to admit I prefer the taste of Ontario lamb, it’s a lot less “game-y” than the NZ stuff.   Either way, all good.

INCREDIBLE LAMB SHANKS

Ingredients

• 6 sprigs of fresh rosemary
• 150g cold butter
• 15 fresh sage leaves
• 2 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves picked
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 lamb shanks, preferably free-range or organic, crown- or French-trimmed
• 12 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
• 2 large carrots, peeled and finely sliced
• 1 onion, peeled and finely sliced
• 1 leek, washed, halved and finely sliced
olive oil
• 2 wineglasses of white wine

Preheat your oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4. Pick the leaves off 2 sprigs of rosemary, whiz them with the butter, most of the sage and the thyme in a food processor and season with salt and pepper. Using a small knife, take one of the lamb shanks and cut between the meat and the bone from the base of the shank upwards. You want to create a hole big enough to put your finger in, making a sort of pocket. Do this to all the shanks and divide the flavoured butter between them, pushing it into the pockets. This will give a wonderful flavour to the heart of the shanks.

Tear off four arm-length pieces of tinfoil and fold each in half to give you four A3-sized pieces of foil. Divide the garlic and veg between them, making a pile in the middle of each square. Rub the lamb shanks with olive oil and season with salt and pepper, then put one on top of each pile of veg and a sprig of rosemary and a few sage leaves on top of that. Carefully pull up the sides of the foil around the shank and pour a swig of wine into each. Gather the foil around the bone, pinching it together tightly. Any excess foil can be torn or cut off with scissors. Repeat for all 4 shanks, then place the foil parcels on a baking tray with the bones facing up. Put in the preheated oven for 2½ hours or until the meat is as tender as can be. Serve the parcels in the middle of the table so that your guests can open them up themselves.

(via jamieoliver.com)