Served on a bed of seasoned beans and veg, these tender slow-roasted lamb shanks are perfect for entertaining friends and family.
Serves44
Cook time3 hr 5 mins3 hour 5 minutes
Prep time20 mins20 minutes, + resting time
+ resting time
I used to come home from school, my mother would make a roast. I’d be like ah yes, it’s that day, it still makes me feel the same way. It's crazy. Slow cooked lamb is one of my favourite things to eat and lucky for me, it's one of the easiest things to do in the kitchen. I've got a recipe with these beautiful Aussie lamb shanks and I tell you what, it couldn't be simpler, but it is so delicious. Let's get started. I'm going to take them and season them up with just a little salt and pepper. So the magic happens when you cook meat on the bone. It gets a little bit sweet. There's lots of collagen, which makes the sauce delicious and thick. This really is just a wonderful, wonderful way to cook meat. I'm going to drizzle a little olive oil over the shanks in the pan, just like that into a nice hot pan. Just a bit more olive oil. We're going to get that beautiful caramelisation on the lamb and our vegetables and get a little colour and sweat those down. Then the whole thing will go into the oven. So I'm going to preheat my oven to 100. And once you've got that beautiful char, that really nice, deep caramelisation on the shanks, go ahead and remove them from the pan. Gorgeous. If you've got too much fat in your pan, you might want to just pour a little bit off, because that's what I'm going to saute my veggies in, and then I've got carrots, onions and garlic and I toss it all in together. So you're going to saute this for just a couple of minutes. And the reason you're doing that is just to draw some flavour out of the vegetables. Take some thyme sprigs, add that to your pan. And then once your vegetables soften, you can add your tomato paste. I like using tomato paste with lamb shanks because it adds a little bit of body to the dish. A little thickness. Now if you're watching me cook this and you think ah, I'd love to add some fennel to that, or some turnip, be my guest, any kind of root vegetable will work in this dish. Now you add the white wine first because you do a thing called deglazing. And what that does is it releases all of the flavours from the pan. We call it a fom, that's what sort of burned onto the bottom of that pan and then that white wine just lifts it all up a little bit of acidity helps to sort of break down any of that richness. And then you give it a stir and you can see all that flavour. Perfect. Shanks go back. Go ahead and pour your broth. Chicken stock’s a bit of an all rounder, you can kind of use it with everything. So you can see that coming up to a simmer already. All those incredible flavours that we've already got in there. Now I take it to my oven, it goes in at 150 for an hour and 15 minutes. The shanks have been in for an hour and a quarter. So I'm going to pull them out, turn them over and then put them back in. Oh yeah. And then we'll finish that cooking process. Now even if it's poking out a little from the stock, it doesn't mean it's not cooking, at steaming actually because the steam circulating around that pot. But you do want them to be submerged at some point through that cooking process. Okay, chuck your lid back on and it goes back in the oven for another hour. Now for the last 20 minutes, you just remove the lid and then that way it’ll get just that little bit thicker. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Have a look at that goodness. What we do now is gently and carefully remove the shanks from the broth. The smell is insane. So good. And of course when these lamb shanks are cooking, a little fat may come out of them. And if it does, and you want to remove it, you sure can, just get a big spoon like I've got here. Just skim any of that fat off. Get a little piece of foil, cover those shanks, and that will just help them to keep warm. Because the next thing we're going to do is bring this up to the boil and add some beans. So go ahead and dump those in. You're trying to have a little taste because you might have to adjust the seasoning. Oh, wow. It's so good. It's really rich and lamby. You taste all those vegetables and the aromatics. It doesn't need any salt, you've got to remember there's a little salt in the stock and we have reduced the quantity which means that it's gonna get more salty so the only thing it needs is a little crack of pepper. Now to finish this off with just a little freshness, you can take just a few sprigs of thyme and just run your fingers up the side and get those beautiful leaves hitting the pan. I'll tell you the second they hit the stock, you smell it. Pretty cool. Now once your broth has a lovely consistency like this has. I think it's ready to serve you. Pick this up, pour the whole thing in. Oh that looks good. Get those gorgeous lamb shanks. Just nestle them in there. Last but certainly not least I've got some watercress. Now watercress has a really interesting bitterness to it. The lamb’s really rich so a little lemon zest, a little watercress, it really makes the world of difference. Crack of pepper, one more tiny drizzle of olive oil, that my friends is a feast fit for a king and queen.
Ingredients
4 Coles Australian Lamb Shanks, French trimmed
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 small brown onion, finely chopped
2 medium carrots, coarsely chopped
6 garlic cloves, crushed
4 thyme sprigs
1 tbs tomato paste
3/4 cup (185ml) dry white wine
2 cups (500ml) salt-reduced chicken stock
400g can cannellini beans, rinsed, drained
1 tsp thyme leaves
1 cup watercress sprigs
1/2 lemon, zested
Extra virgin olive oil, extra, to drizzle
Check ingredient labels to make sure they meet your specific dietary requirements and always consult a health professional before changing your diet. View dietary information here.
Percentage Daily Intake information on our recipes is calculated using the nutrition reference values for an average Australian adult.
Method
Step 1
Preheat oven to 150°C (130°C fan-forced). Pat the lamb dry with paper towel and season with salt and pepper. Add oil to a large heavy-based casserole pan and heat over medium-high heat. Add the lamb and cook, turning as needed, for 8-10 mins or until brown all over. Transfer lamb to a large plate.
Step 2
Pour off all but 2 tsp fat in the pan. Reduce heat to medium and add the onion, carrots, garlic and thyme sprigs. Cook, stirring often, for 4 mins or until the vegetables brown slightly. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, for 2 mins or until the tomato paste deepens in colour and begins to stick to the base of the pan. Add the wine and stir, scraping the bottom of the pan. Add the stock, then return the lamb to the pan. Bring to a simmer.
Step 3
Cover the pan and cook in the oven for 11/4 hours. Turn the lamb and cook, covered, for 1 hour. Uncover and cook for a further 20 mins or until lamb is tender. Transfer the lamb to a clean plate and loosely cover with foil. Set aside to rest.
Step 4
Skim off any fat from the surface of the liquid in the pan. Remove and discard the thyme sprigs. Stir in the beans and thyme leaves and place the pan over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 8-10 mins or until the beans are heated through. Season.
Step 5
Spoon the bean mixture into a rimmed serving platter. Add the lamb and top with watercress and lemon zest. Drizzle with extra oil to serve.
