For the shanks to serve 4 people, you will need 3 red onions (peeled), olive oil, sea salt and ground pepper, 2 handfuls of raisins, 3 heaped tablespoons thick-cut marmalade, 1 heaped tablespoon tomato sauce, 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, 200ml Guinness or smooth dark ale, 4 lamb shanks, roughly 350g each, 8 sprigs of fresh rosemary, 1 litre organic chicken stock
Finely chop the onions and put them into the biggest pot that you have (The bigger the better), with a lug of olive oil and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Cook over a medium to high heat, stirring as you go, until the onions start to caramelize. Add the raisins and marmalade, then add the tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce and booze (alcohol). Stir and leave to gently simmer.
Put the lamb shanks into a large frying pan on a medium to high heat with a drizzle of olive oil (cook in batches if needed). Turn them every few minutes; once they have some good colour, pick in the rosemary leaves and move them around in the pan to get crispy (But don't let them burn. Use tongs to move the shanks into the pan of onions, then pour in all their juices (if there are any, we didn't get any) and the crispy rosemary. Add the stock, put the lid on, turn down the heat and leave to blip away slowly for around 3 hours, or until the meat falls off the bone easily (When we did it, 3 hours had gone by and the meat wasn't falling off of the bone, we left it for 20-30 mins more and BAM, it was falling off easily). Try to turn the shanks halfway through so they cook evenly.
When the lamb shanks are ready, carefully move them to a oven-proof dish, making sure the meat stays intact and cover with aluminium foil. Whiz or liquidize the gravy with a stick blender until smooth, then allow to reduce down and thicken (Again, this took some time but oh-my-gosh it was worth it).
We served the lamb with garlic mash potato, brussel sprouts fried with ham and parsnip (Which weren't actually that bad), beans, carrots and that unforgettable gravy.
Here is a list of the recipes that will be posted in the next week:
20th April 2012 - Poached pears
22th April 2012 - Tomato and apple chutney
24th April 2012 - Tuilles
26th April 2012 - Apple strudel
