Lamb Shanks W White Beans Sun Dried Tomatoes Food

LAMB SHANKS W/ WHITE BEANS & SUN-DRIED TOMATOES

Steps:

• Soak beans overnight (8 hours or more) in water to cover by 3 inches.
• Drain and pick over beans and rinse.
• Place the beans in the slow cooker.
• Trim the lamb shanks of as much visible fat and silver skin as possible.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.
• When hot, add the seasoned lamb shanks and brown well on all sides.
• Remove and reserve.
• Pour off excess fat from the pan.
• Reduce heat to low and add chopped onions and garlic.
• Cook over low heat until onions are softened and translucent, about 3 to 4 minutes.
• Stir onion mixture into slow cooker with the beans.
• Add sun-dried tomatoes, sun-dried tomato oil, and rosemary.
• Tuck the browned lamb shanks into the bean mixture.
• Add the stock and wine.
• Set to cook on low setting for 6 hours.
• Remove lamb shanks, degrease using a fat mop.
• Mash some of the beans if desired.

OVEN ROASTED LAMB SHANKS WITH ROASTED TOMATOES AND TOASTED ORZO

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Heat oil in a medium Dutch oven over high heat until smoking. Season the shanks on both sides with salt and pepper and sear until golden brown on both sides. Remove shanks to a plate. Add the celery, carrots, and onions and cook until caramelized. Add the Port and red wine and reduce by half. Add the chicken stock, the pulp from the roasted garlic, and return the shanks; bring to a boil on the stove, and then cover and bake in the oven for 2 hours or until tender. Remove shanks, strain sauce into a medium saucepan, and reserve 1 cup of the braising liquid for cooking the orzo. Cook the sauce over high heat until liquid is reduced by half. Serve shanks with sauce, orzo, and tomatoes.
• Preheat oven to 200 degrees F. Place garlic heads in a small roasting dish and drizzle with olive oil. Roast for about 1 1/2 hours or until soft. Let cool before squeezing the pulp out.
• Bring 8 cups of water (or a combination of chicken stock and water) to a boil. Heat a medium nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Add 1/2 of the orzo and toast until golden brown. In a medium saucepan, heat the butter and oil over medium heat, then add the onion and cook until soft. Add the toasted orzo and the remaining orzo and saute for 1 minute to coat the pasta with the onion mixture. Add hot water to the orzo as if you were making risotto, a little at a time, until the pasta is al dente. Finish with the cold butter and 1 cup of the braising liquid. Stir in parsley and season with salt and pepper, to taste.
• Preheat oven to 200 degrees F. In a small baking dish, toss the tomatoes in olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 4 hours. Alternatively, use re-hydrated sun-dried tomatoes instead.

LAMB AND WHITE BEANS WITH ROSEMARY

Steps:

• In a large skillet with a lid, heat oil over medium-high. Season lamb generously on both sides with salt and pepper. Place in skillet; cook until browned, 3 to 4 minutes per side (lamb will finish cooking in step 4). Transfer chops to a plate (keep oil in skillet); loosely cover with aluminum foil, and set aside.
• To skillet, add onion, garlic, rosemary, and red-pepper flakes; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until onion has softened, 3 to 5 minutes.
• Add beans, sun-dried tomatoes, and 1/2 cup water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low; cook until mixture is slightly thickened and saucy, 4 to 6 minutes.
• Place chops on top of beans in skillet (adding any juices that have accumulated on plate). Cover skillet, and simmer until meat is medium-rare, 3 to 4 minutes. Serve chops with beans, and garnish with rosemary, if desired.

BRAISED LAMB SHANKS WITH WHITE BEANS

Steps:

• Make lamb shanks:
• Pat lamb shanks dry and season with salt and pepper. In an 8-quart heavy flameproof casserole heat oil over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking and brown lamb shanks well in batches, transferring to a plate as browned. To casserole add onion, carrot, celery, and garlic and sauté until onion is softened. Add wine and simmer mixture, stirring occasionally, until liquid is reduced to about 3 cups. Return lamb shanks to casserole and stir in broth, tomato paste, and thyme. Bring liquid to a boil and simmer, covered, stirring and turning lamb shanks occasionally, 1 1/2 hours. Simmer mixture, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 1 hour more, or until lamb shanks are tender.
• Make the gremolata while lamb is cooking:
• In a small bowl stir together gremolata ingredients.
• Make beans while lamb is cooking:
• In a saucepan heat oil over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking and cook onions, carrots, celery, and garlic, stirring, 2 or 3 minutes, or until softened. Add beans, 2 cups broth, butter, and bay leaf and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally and adding enough remaining broth to keep beans moist and to reach a creamy consistency, about 30 minutes. Discard bay leaf and add half of gremolata and salt and pepper to taste.
• Transfer lamb shanks to a plate and keep warm, covered with foil. Strain braising liquid through a sieve into a saucepan, discarding solids, and stir in butter and tarragon. Boil sauce, stirring occasionally, until thickened slightly. Strain sauce through sieve into a bowl and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
• Sprinkle lamb shanks with remaining gremolata and serve with beans and sauce.

SLOW-COOKED LAMB SHANKS AND TOMATOES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large Dutch oven or heavy pot, heat oil over medium-high. Add onions and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add tomatoes (if using canned, break them up) and cook until they break down, 6 to 8 minutes.
• Place lamb shanks in pot in a single layer so each shank is covered by sauce. Bring to a boil, cover, then place pot in oven. Cook until meat is very tender and falling off bones, about 3 1/2 hours. Skim fat from cooking liquid and season lamb with salt and pepper. Serve lamb with sauce.

BRAISED LAMB SHANKS & SUN-DRIED TOMATOES

Steps:

• Toss the lamb in the flour and shake away any excess.
• Heat the oil in a large baking dish and add the lamb in batches and cook until browned all over, drain on paper towel.
• Return the lamb to the dish and add onions, garlic, tomatoes, port, wine and stock, cover and bake in a moderate oven (180D C- 350d F) for about 2 hours until the lamb is tender.
• Remove the lamb from the dish and keep warm and simmer the pan juices over medium heat until slightly thickened.
• Serve the lamb with the pan juices and sprinkle over the parsley or basil.

STEWED LAMB SHANKS WITH WHITE BEANS AND ROSEMARY

Steps:

• Season the shanks with 1 teaspoon of the salt and freshly ground pepper. Heat the olive oil in a heavy, large skillet over medium-high heat. Add as many shanks as will fit without crowding. Brown the shanks well on all sides, about 10 minutes per batch. Set the browned shanks aside and repeat with the remaining shanks, pouring off the fat between batches.
• Place the garlic, onion, carrots and celery in the skillet and saute until softened, about 10 minutes. Pour in the wine and cook for about 2 minutes, scraping the bottom of the skillet with a wooden spoon to loosen any browned bits.
• Transfer the vegetable and wine mixture to a large stockpot. Add the tomatoes and use the back of a spoon to break them into small chunks. Add the remaining ingredients, including the shanks. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, skimming as necessary, until the lamb and beans are very tender, about 2 hours. If the lamb is done before the beans, take out the shanks and cover with foil to keep them warm until the beans are done.
• Skim off as much fat from the top of the liquid as possible. Use tongs to remove the shanks from the liquid, placing 1 shank on each of 8 plates. Season the bean mixture with additional salt if needed. Discard rosemary and bay leaves. Using a slotted spoon, arrange some of the beans and vegetables around each shank. Spoon some of the liquid over and around the shank and serve immediately.

BRAISED LAMB SHANKS WITH WHITE BEANS

Steps:

• Make small incisions in the lamb shanks and stud them with the slivers of garlic. Sprinkle the lamb with the rosemary. Coat the shanks with two tablespoons of the olive oil, cover, and marinate overnight in the refrigerator. Soak the beans overnight in cold water to cover.
• Rinse the beans, put them in a large saucepan and cover them with fresh water. Add an onion, chopped, the herb bouquet, and salt and pepper. Simmer for about an hour, or until the beans are tender.
• Heat remaining olive oil in a large pan and brown the lamb shanks on all sides. Remove the shanks and pour off the fat.
• Chop the remaining onions and add them to the pan. Cook gently until the onions are soft. Add the carrots, wine, lamb shanks and stock. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for an hour.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Drain beans, reserving cooking liquid. In a large casserole, put a layer of beans, a layer of salt pork, the vegetables and the juice from the shanks and then the shanks. Add remaining beans and juices. If the stew is too dry, add some of the liquid from the beans. Bake one hour.
• Sprinkle with bread crumbs and butter and bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes longer. Sprinkle with the parsley and serve.