Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks
Ingredients
1 cup plain flour
8 large lamb shanks (ask your butcher to cut these in half so that they fit more easily into your casserole dish)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, peeled, roughly sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 cups beef consomme
3/4 cup red wine
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons cornflour
2 tablespoons cold water
Method
Preheat oven to 180°C. Place flour and salt and pepper in a shallow dish. Lightly coat shanks with flour. Heat oil in a saucepan over high heat. Cook shanks, in batches, for 3 to 4 minutes or until browned. Transfer to a large roasting pan.
Add onions and garlic to saucepan. Cook over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes or until soft. Add consomme, wine and maple syrup. Stir to combine. Bring to the boil. Season with salt and pepper. Pour over shanks and cover pan tightly with foil. Roast for 1 1/4 hours. Remove foil. Turn shanks and roast for 45 minutes or until tender.
Transfer shanks to a platter and cover to keep warm. Strain cooking liquid through a sieve. Keep the onions for serving with your shanks at the end (or simply put them in the fridge for tomorrow and use them as a pickle for making roast beef and onion sandwiches!). Return liquid to pan. Mix cornflour and water in a bowl until smooth. Stir into liquid and bring to the boil, stirring, over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 minutes or until reduced slightly. Serve shanks with gravy, creamy mash and your favourite side vegetable (I like asparagus or some lightly oven-roasted cherry tomatoes).
Enjoy! xx
