Braised lamb shank with white beans and gremolata
3 HOURS + OVERNIGHT SOAKING
SERVES 4 | EASY plum tomatoes in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until soft, then set aside to cool.
• Heat up a little more olive oil in a large pan over a high heat, season the shanks with salt, add them to the pan and brown them all over. Put the shanks into a deep roasting tin or casserole.
• Add the diced vegetables to the same pan that you seared the lamb in and turn the heat down. Gently cook them for 20-30 minutes, stirring frequently, until all the veg is a deep golden brown. If they start to catch, add a splash or two of water and keep stirring.
• Next add the wine and cook it off for 2 minutes – this is important to stop it tasting too boozy. Remove the skins from the tomatoes and discard (no need to be too precious about this), roughly chop and add to the pan with the veg. Add the stock, bay leaves, rosemary and a few grinds of black pepper, then bring to the boil.
• Pour this over the lamb shanks and cover tightly with foil or a lid. Put into the oven for 1 hour, then remove the lid and cook for a further hour or until the lamb is very tender. You are aiming for a fairly thick, coating consistency for the sauce, so if it seems a little thick, add a splash of stock or water. If there is too much liquid, remove the shanks onto a baking tray and reduce the sauce on the stove for a few minutes.
• While the lamb is in the oven, cook the beans. Drain the soaking water from the beans, put them in a pan and cover with cold water, about 2cm above the top of the beans. Add the whole garlic cloves to the beans along with the bay, sage and olive oil.
• Put over a medium heat, bring to the boil then turn the heat down and gently simmer for 30-40 minutes. Different beans cook at different times and can overcook very quickly so after 20 minutes begin to test them every 5 minutes until they are cooked. You want them soft but with a very slight bite to them.
• Drain the beans through a fine sieve, catching their cooking liquid. Tip the beans back into the pan with a good splash of cooking liquid, then use the back of a spoon to crush some of the beans and garlic cloves to thicken them. Finally, season to taste with the salt and vinegar. You may want a bit more or less vinegar depending on your taste, so add it slowly.
• Use a peeler to remove the zest from the lemon, making sure you are just removing the zest and not the pith. Finely chop the lemon zest and garlic and mix together with the parsley – aim for roughly equal quantities of each.
• To serve, put the beans on four plates, rest the lamb shanks on top and spoon over the sauce, sprinkle over the gremolata and, if you like, a little glug of good-quality olive oil.
PER SERVING 956 KCALS | FAT 43G
SATURATES 9.5G | CARBS 65.5G | SUGARS 17.3G
FIBRE 26.3G | PROTEIN 51.7G | SALT 1.2G
Birrificio Angelo Poretti offers a unique collection of beers that are numbered after the amount of hop variants used in the brewing process, making them full of flavour and the ideal way to enhance your dining experience.
BIRRIFICIO ANGELO PORETTI NO 3
A crisp, easy-drinking lager with a light body and balanced bitterness. A great thirstquencher and extremely versatile. It matches really well with the summery Med flavours in the burrata pansoti (p26).
BIRRIFICIO ANGELO PORETTI NO 4
A lager-style beer brewed at low temperature which makes it full of fruit and hoppiness. It has moderate carbornation and a light body which can be enjoyed with fuller flavoured dishes such as the spicy pork and ’nduja mafalde (p25).
BIRRIFICIO ANGELO PORETTI NO 8
Brewed using eight different hops, this Saison-style beer is a little more complex with notes of candied citrus and coriander. It has good body and is perfect served with fish dishes such as the Tuscan fish stew (p26).
Want to try the Birrificio Angelo Poretti range for yourself? Discover the beers at Rudy’s Pizza (rudyspizza.co.uk) and Bellavita Shop (bellavitashop.co.uk).
Enjoy responsibly