Braised Lamb Shanks

 

Maybe 15 or 20 years ago, we found a wonderful Mediterranean restaurant in my neighborhood called Troy. It quickly became our favorite - we never had a meal there that we didn't love, especially the braised lamb shanks which we washed down with bottles of Zoe red wine. We tried for years to buy that wine, but it was only sold to restaurants.  The other night we were reminiscing about Troy, thinking we might have to make the trip down to Savannah for some lamb and Zoe, when he urged me to look online one last time. Eureka! I ordered two bottles which he picked up today, and he bought me 4 lamb shanks from the butcher. The shanks are already in the the crock pot, and the house smells amazing!

Dredge the shanks in 2 tsp granulated garlic, 1 tsp sweet Hungarian paprika, 1/2 tsp pink salt, 1 scant tsp black pepper, 1 tsp ground nutmeg. Brown in olive oil on all sides, remove and set aside. 

In same pan, add more EVOO if needed and saute till transparent:

2-3 carrots, peeled and chunked

2 celery, chopped 

1 med yellow onion, diced

Pour in 2/3 cup red wine, stir to scrape up the browned bits of fond, then stir in:

1.5 cup beef stock

15 oz can of tomatoes and juice

1 tsp ground cinnamon 

1 tsp thyme

1 scant tsp rosemary

Nestle the shanks into the wine sauce, cover, and let it cook in the crock pot on high for 6 hours or more. The meat  should be falling off the bones easily. I dont think it is possible to overcook shanks in a crock pot, so let it go as long as you want, just check the liquid from time to time.

I think we will sop up the yummy wine gravy with couscous, or maybe barley.

My crock pot is a rectangular, 4 qt pot which sits on top of a teflon coated, heated griddle. The pot can be used on a burner, which I did today to do the browning and sautéing, or in the oven up to 350F. I highly recommend this type of slow cooker for its versatility.