Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks With Soft Polenta Food

SLOW BRAISED LAMB SHANKS

Steps:

• Pre-heat the oven to 160ºC/320ºF.
• Season the lamb shanks generously with salt and pepper. Brown the lamb shanks in a large, deep oven-proof pot/pan until well-browned on both sides. Remove from the pan and set aside.
• In the same pan, fry the onion, carrot, celery and garlic until soft and fragrant. Add the herbs and tomato paste and cook for 30 seconds before adding the red wine and stock. Allow to come to a simmer then add the lamb shanks back into the sauce.
• Cover with a lid and place in the oven. Allow to braise slowly for 2-3 hours until the lamb is soft and succulent. Check on the lamb shanks half-way through cooking and add more stock if necessary.
• Remove from the oven and serve.

SLOW-COOKER LAMB SHANKS

Steps:

• If you need to preheat your slow cooker then turn it on now. In a large hot frying pan, add half the oil and brown the lamb shanks all over, then transfer them to the slow cooker. This will take you about 10 mins and you may need to do it in batches. Add the remaining oil to the frying pan and fry the onion gently until it starts to turn translucent, then stir in the tomato purée and flour and cook for a minute.
• Add the red wine and bring it to a boil, stirring the flour and purée into the wine until you have a smooth sauce around the onion pieces. Tip into the slow cooker. Pour the stock into the same pan and bring it to a boil, then tip into the slow cooker. Add the carrots garlic, bay leaves, thyme and parsley stalks to the slow cooker and put the lid on. Cook on low for eight hours or on high for four hours. Turn the shanks over at some point during the cooking.
• After eight hours the lamb should be tender and starting to fall off the bone. If the sauce is too thin lift out the lamb and carrots and tip the sauce into a pan, boil it rapidly until it starts to thicken before adding the parsley.

SLOW COOKED LAMB SHANKS WITH SOFT POLENTA

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 160°C(315°F). Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed casserole dish. It should be big enough to fit the shanks in a single layer. Lightly dust the shanks in the flour and brown in casserole dish. Remove from dish.
• Add onion and cook gently for a few minutes. Stir in garlic, celery, carrot and parsnip. Pour in wine and let come back up to heat, about 1 minute. Return the shanks to the dish. Add the stock, passata herbs and orange peel. Cover and bake for 2 hours or until shanks are tender.
• Gently remove the shanks from the dish and arrange on a warm serving plate. Spoon the vegetables and gravy over the shanks. Discard herbs. Serve with the polenta.
• Polenta: Bring the stock and water to the boil. Slowly rain in the polenta, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer over low heat for 5-6 minutes or until mix starts to leave the side of the pot. Remove from heat, add butter and season with salt and pepper. Spoon into a warm serving dish.

GREEK LAMB SHANKS (SLOW COOKER)

Steps:

• Place lamb and flour in large plastic bag and shake to coat.
• Heat oil in pan and add lamb in batches and cook until browned.
• Heat remaining oil and cook onions and garlic stirring until onions are soft.
• Combine wine, stock, rind artichokes and olives in a large jug.
• Place lamb in slow cooker pot and pour liquid mixture over lamb.
• Cover pot with lid.
• Cook on high setting for 4 hours or low setting for 8 hours.
• Stir in oregano and salt and pepper just prior to serving. Taste and adjust seasoning if required.

SLOW ROASTED LAMB SHANKS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 475 degrees.
• Rub the shanks with salt and pepper, then place them meaty-side up in a roasting pan.
• Roast for 25 minutes, or until nicely browned.
• Remove from oven.
• Reduce oven temperature to 250 degrees.
• Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat.
• Add the vegetables and garlic and saute, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes, or until the vegetables soften, then caramelize.
• Stir in the thyme, rosemary, fennel and coriander seeds, the peppercorns, bay leaf and parsley.
• Increase the heat to high, add the wine and deglaze the pan, scraping up all the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
• Boil until the liquid has reduced by one third.
• Pour over the lamb, spreading the vegetables over, but not completely covering, the shanks.
• Add enough of the water, chicken broth or lamb stock to almost cover the meat.
• Cover the pan with aluminum foil and roast for 7 hours, basting with the pan juices every hour or so, and adding liquid as needed.
• Remove the foil during the last 30 minutes of cooking.
• At this point, the lamb should be fork-tender and falling off the bone.
• Remove the shanks from the pan and let cool to room temperature.
• Strain the braising liquid, pushing on the vegetables to get all of their goodness and skim off the fat. Best to refrigerate overnight and skim off the solidified fat.
• When ready to serve, slowly reheat the shanks in the braising liquid.
• To serve, roast your favorite root vegetables and spoon onto serving plates, center a lamb shank on each plate and spoon a little of the braising liquid over the top.
• Garnish with parsley, if desired.

SLOW COOKER LAMB SHANKS

Steps:

• Heat half the oil in a large frying pan.
• Toss the lamb in flour that has been seasoned with salt and pepper; shake away excess and cook the lamb over high heat until browned all over; transfer to the bowl of a slow cooker.
• Add remaining oil the the same pan and sauté onions, carrots and garlic, stirring, over a medium heat for about 2 minutes or until the onion is starting to soften and then add the tomato paste and cook stirring for a further minute.
• Add the wine to the pan, bring to the boil and then stir in stock, undrained tomatoes, sugar and bouquet garni and bring the boil; pour over the lamb in the slow cooker, making sure the lamb is covered by the liquid.
• Cover and cook for 6 to 8 hours on the low setting or until lamb is soft and fall off the bone (see notes).
• Remove the lamb from the slow cooker and cover to keep warm.
• Turn the cooker to the high setting, cook uncovered for about 30 minutes or until sauce thicken slightly, removing any fat from the surface.
• Serve the lamb with the sauce, instant polenta and steamed green vegetables, if desired.
• Suitable to freeze but not to microwave.
• JULIE'S NOTES - I made this dish simultaneously in two types of slow cookers. It was interesting to see how the low settings differed between them. The cooking varied by about 2 hours, as one cooker had a much lower heat than the other. It is important to keep an eye out, taste as you go and use your own judgement. Bouquet garni is a bundle of fresh herbs, usually by leaf, sprig of thyme and parsley stalks, tied together with kitchen string. The bundle is removed at the end of cooking and discarded.

SLOW COOKED LAMB SHANKS IN RED WINE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 F degrees.
• Season the lamb shanks with salt and pepper.
• In a large frying pan brown the lamb shanks on all sides in the olive oil; remove from pan and put into a large casserole dish to keep warm.
• In the same frying pan put in the carrots, onions, garlic, bay leaves and rosemary and cook slowly until nicely colored.
• Pour in the red wine, beef stock, and brown sugar into the frying pan and stir gently bringing it to a low boil.
• Pour the wine mixture over the lamb shanks; top up with water if needed.
• Cover; put in oven and cook for 2 1/2 - 3 hours until very tender.
• Remove the lamb shanks and keep warm and skim the fat off the top of the red wine juices.
• Mix together the cornflour with just a bit of cold water and whisk the cornflour mixture into the red wine juices until desired consistency.
• Serve up on individual plates and enjoy.

SOFT POLENTA

Steps:

• Bring 3 cups water to a full boil in a heavy pot. Simmer the remaining water close by.
• Add the salt and rapidly stir the water with a whisk, creating a vortex. Continuing to stir constantly, add the polenta in a thin stream into the vortex.
• Continue to stir after all the polenta has been added, then lower the heat to a simmer rather than a boil.
• As the polenta thickens, replace the whisk with a long-handled wooden spoon.
• Add the 1 cup of remaining water and continue to stir. Break up any lumps with the back of the spoon pressed against the pot.
• Continue stirring the polenta, reaching to the bottom of the pot as necessary, until it gets thick and pulls away from the sides of the pot.
• Taste the polenta to test tenderness; add additional water if necessary. The polenta can take 15 to 60 minutes to cook properly, depending on its type.
• During the last 5 minutes of cooking, stir in the pepper and butter, then add the cheese.
• Remove from heat.
• If serving immediately, pour onto a large platter or into a bowl or individual dishes.