Baked Lamb Shanks

I cook pretty much everyday for my boyfriend and I. The slow cooked dishes tend to be done on the weekend, unless I get home from work early, which hardly ever happens. I take pictures of every new dish I make and even things I've made before but perfected more recently. It's getting on the computer that's the problem. So the next three or four posts are back log posts from February. I know it's really bad.. my pancake day post isn't going to come until a month after Pancake day at the rate we're going :p

Anyways, it's nearly Spring so here's one to make with the Spring lamb that's coming into season. I love lamb shanks, when they've been cooked long enough, the meat is tender and juicy from the fat that just melts away. I've made lamb shanks in the past as curries and simple stews with potato and carrots. This time around I wanted to do a baked shank in the oven, mostly because I don't have a saucepan that fits two shanks! I've bought lamb shanks from Abel & Cole in the past, and a single one of theirs is enough to feed two people. This time, I got the shanks from the butcher counter at Waitrose and went for two smaller ones. I find it difficult having to share lamb shanks with my partner as I don't always feel satisfied. 

So as I was browsing the internet looking for a baked lamb shank recipe, I found this one by Jamie Oliver. So this is my interpretation of this recipe. I'm not on Atkins, so I made a quick batch of mash potato for my shank to sit on to capture all the lovely juices coming out of it. 

The result was absolutely delicious! I think the wine is really key here as the juices from the foil packet including the wine, make the gravy. We chose a South African Sauvignon Blanc from Porcupine Ridge which is a fruity, crisp wine that completely lifted this dish and made it feel like it was sunny outside. I don't normally buy white wine so for me this was an interesting combination on my palate. The dish has an almost cirtrus note from the fresh thyme, a woody richness from the rosemary and a subtle garlic infusion on the lamb itself. The meat was succulent and the lamb flavour was not too overpowering. The mash was a bit heavy for the dish, and in hindsight, I would probably serve much less mash

Although I did make this on a weekend, it really didn't take much preparation at all. And the house smelt delicious for the two hours it was cooking making us salivate in front of the TV. I think we were watching a cookery show like Masterchef as well so that made it doubly worse. I was worried the meat would not brown when baked in the foil, but I think we got a good amount of colour on the meat without colouring the bones which is great.

Anyways enough blabbing, here's the recipe copied from Jamie Oliver's site. I halved all the ingredients as I was making for two.

Ingredients
6 sprigs of fresh rosemary
150g cold butter
15 fresh sage leaves
2 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves picked
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 lamb shanks, preferably free-range or organic, crown- or French-trimmed
12 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
2 large carrots, peeled and finely sliced
1 onion, peeled and finely sliced
1 leek, washed, halved and finely sliced
olive oil
2 wineglasses of white wine

Recipe
Preheat your oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4. Pick the leaves off 2 sprigs of rosemary, whiz them with the butter, most of the sage and the thyme in a food processor and season with salt and pepper. Using a small knife, take one of the lamb shanks and cut between the meat and the bone from the base of the shank upwards. You want to create a hole big enough to put your finger in, making a sort of pocket. Do this to all the shanks and divide the flavoured butter between them, pushing it into the pockets. This will give a wonderful flavour to the heart of the shanks.

Tear off four arm-length pieces of tinfoil and fold each in half to give you four A3-sized pieces of foil. Divide the garlic and veg between them, making a pile in the middle of each square. Rub the lamb shanks with olive oil and season with salt and pepper, then put one on top of each pile of veg and a sprig of rosemary and a few sage leaves on top of that. Carefully pull up the sides of the foil around the shank and pour a swig of wine into each. Gather the foil around the bone, pinching it together tightly. Any excess foil can be torn or cut off with scissors. Repeat for all 4 shanks, then place the foil parcels on a baking tray with the bones facing up. Put in the preheated oven for 2½ hours or until the meat is as tender as can be. Serve the parcels in the middle of the table so that your guests can open them up themselves.