This is my husband's recipe, and I wanted to share this amazing dish! So delicious! My risotto was served on the side, a great addition to the lamb.
Ingredients:
2 lamb shanks, 1 lb. a piece, trimmed of fat
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1/2 Bordeaux red wine
1/2 Quart chicken stock
1/2 Quart beef stock
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
4 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. chopped garlic
1 fresh rosemary sprig
2 bay leaves
Appliances:
Le Creuset Dutch Oven-Large
Directions:
1. Put dutch oven on med-high heat burner. Add in 2 Tbsp. olive oil, let dutch oven come to temperature. Once at desired heat, heat 1 shank at a time, 3-5 minutes on each side, browning to a golen brown, then remove off heat onto heat safe plate.
2. Add remaining 2 Tbsp. to dutch oven, add in chopped onions, salt and pepper, letting them carmelize, 5-7 minutes, till translucent, but a bit browned from lamb remnants.
3. Next add in garlic, allowing garlic to carmelize with onions, 2-3 minutes.
4. Deglaze dutch oven with wine, stir everything with wooden spoon, scraping up lamb bits on the bottom of the pan to incorporate into liquid.
5. Add beef and chicken stocks, tomatoe paste, stirring all to incorporate paste and broth with wine, onion and garlic bath.
6. Add in rosemary, bay leaves, salt and pepper.
7. Bring pot to a boil, add in the lamb, if liquid does not cover the lamb, add more broth/wine/water to bring above lamb shank level, not expsoing the meat.
8. Cover, let simmer on low heat for 1 1/2 hours.
9. Remove cover, cook uncovered for additional 1/2 hour at same temperature to reduce liquid to fall below the shanks. Be sure to taste for proper seasoning level, et voila! You have your braised lamb shanks!
Plate the lamb shanks onto a plate, use broth bath in dutch oven to pour over the lamb as a gravy. If you wish for a thicker gravy, you might need to raise temp of broth to boil, then reduce again, this should help thicken naturally, without adding flour or thickeners, but if desired, I don't see that hurting anything.
Click on the link to see my risotto recipe.
Bon appetit!