Braised lamb shanks

Slow cooked with red wine

LAMB shanks are the king of all lamb cuts. Slow cooked until meltingly tender in a rich, deeply flavoured red wine sauce – what more could you want?

Ingredients: Serves 4-6

4-6 lamb shanks

2 carrots – roughly chopped 2 onions – roughly chopped 2 celery sticks – roughly chopped 2 x sprigs rosemary

3 x cloves garlic – sliced

350ml red wine

Lamb stock or chicken stock (to cover)

Vegetable oil

Knob of butter

Salt

Method

Pre heat oven – Gas 6/ 200c/ fan 180c

First, heat a small amount of oil in a large pan on a medium to high heat. Season the lamb shanks well with salt and sear off the meat until golden brown all around.

Once coloured, drain off the shanks and set aside. In the same pan add the knob of butter and start to cook the vegetables, garlic and rosemary.

Cook these for around 5-10 minutes on a medium heat.

Now add the red wine and cook down until the wine has reduced by half.

Add the shanks back to the pan and add the stock. Bring up the heat until at a simmer.

Place everything into an ovenproof dish if you haven’t already and cover with foil.

Cook in the oven for around 2 hours or until the meat is falling away from the bone.

If you feel you have a lot of liquid remaining after the cooking, place it into a pan and put it on the stove and reduce the liquid until it thickens.

Serve with a good helping of mashed potato. A real heart-warming dish for these chilly days.

Gary Townsend is head chef at One Devonshire Gardens by Hotel du Vin, Glasgow. See www.hotelduvin.com or phone 0141 378 0385 to book. Twitter @Chefgtownsend

Instagram- @chef.g.townsend

PHOTOGRAPH: ALAN DONALDSON