It was Valentines day and I had planned to cook Sun a big meal. The Entree was Lamb Shank and I am going to blog the recipe for it.

Its so easy even an amateur cook can do it.

Things you need:

• Olive oil
• 2 lamb shanks 400g a piece
• 2cups (500ml) dry red wine
• 2cups (500ml) beef stock
• 4-5 cloves garlic, crushed
• 30g butter
• 1 brown onion chopped finely
• 3 celery sticks chopped finely
• 4 sprigs of fresh rosemary
• 4 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 2 teaspoons of Parsley
• 2 teaspoons of Chives
• 1 tbls cornflour
• Salt

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan and add lamb cook until browned all over. In a large baking dish pour a little oil and heat over medium heat add crushed garlic cook for about a min stirring constantly so garlic doesn’t burn.
2. Melt butter in a pan and cook onion and celery until soft.
3. Stir Red Wine and beef stock to the onion mix, bring to boil..
4. Add lamb shanks to the pan and let it simmer for sometime. Take the lamb shanks out, place it in a oven-safe pan and pour in rest of the cooked mixture.
5. Add all the herbs along with the lamb shanks.
6. For the cooking you can either heat the oven to slow 130-150 and cook for 2-21/2 hours turning meat twice during cooking, or you can cook over slow heat on the stove for the same time also turning during cooking.
7. Once lamb is cooked remove and wrap in foil to keep warm, strain liquid to discard herbs, fat and any bits that have come off lamb.
8. Strain the fat and the stock from the cooked lamb, return to pan and heat over stove. Mix cornflour with water to form a paste and add to liquid stir constantly until mixture starts to thicken and to finish it off just add a few gravy granules for extra flavour and to also thicken some more. Place lamb shanks in serving dish with celery, onion mix and pour sauce over the top.

Side:

Mash potatoes

For a slight variation, I had filled the ramekins with mash potatoes, filled with a layer of parmesan cheese and broiled in the oven until it melted and formed a crisp layer on top. Crunchy, golden russett mashed potatoes.

Sauce:

Warm Hollandaise for extra yummies.

XOXO