Italian Style Lamb Shanks
- Ready In:
- 3hrs 30mins
- Ingredients:
- 15
- Serves:
-
4
ingredients
- 1 red capsicum (red bell pepper)
- 1 yellow capsicum (yellow bell pepper)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons olive oil (extra)
- 4 lamb shanks, trimmed of excess fat
- 4 small onions, peeled and halved
- 8 cloves garlic, peeled,crushed and roughly chopped
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste (puree)
- 1 teaspoon beef stock powder (or 1 beef stock cube)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 (45 g) packet French onion soup mix
- 1 cup red wine
- 1 cup hot water
- 1 (400 g) can peeled chopped tomatoes
directions
- First, you need to roast the capsicums (bell peppers).
- Preheat the oven to 200C (400F) or, alternatively, set grill (broiler) to high temperature.
- Slice capsicums into quarters lengthwise and remove stem, seeds and membrane.
- Coat well with olive oil and place into a roasting tin, skin side up.
- Cook in a hot (200°C) oven or under a hot grill until the skin begins to blacken and bubble.
- Remove and place capsicum pieces into a plastic bag.
- Seal bag and set aside until capsicums are cool.
- When cool, open bag and remove as much peel as possible from capsicums and set aside until needed.
- *Ifthis sounds like too much trouble, you could substitute a bottle (210g approx) of roasted capsicums (drained).
- TO PREPARE THE LAMB SHANKS: Preheat oven to moderate 180C (350F).
- In a large jug, combine beef stock powder, garlic powder, soup mix, red wine, and hot water, mix well.
- Add entire (undrained) contents of the can of peeled tomatoes to the jug, and set aside until needed.
- Heat oil in a large frypan (preferably an ovenproof frypan) or in a dutch oven or similar.
- Add lamb shanks, turn to cover well with oil, then cook on a high heat until brown all over.
- Remove lamb shanks from the pan and set aside.
- Reduce heat in pan, pour off all but 1 tablespoon of oil, and add onion, garlic, thyme and tomato paste.
- Cook for 3-5 minutes, or until fragrant.
- Now pour the contents of the jug into the pan and stir to mix well.
- Add lamb shanks to the pan, turning to coat well with the sauce.
- Increase heat and bring liquid to the boil.
- When liquid is boiling, cover the pan and transfer it (if ovenproof) to the centre shelf of the pre-heated oven.
- *Ifyour pan is not ovenproof, simply tip the shanks and their sauce into a suitable dish before transferring to the oven.
- Cook shanks, covered, in the oven for 2 hours at 180C (350F).
- After 2 hours, add the capsicums.
- Cover and cook for a further 30 minutes.
- Skim any excess fat from the top of the sauce before serving.
- Before serving, add freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste.
- Serve with steamed rice, cous cous, or mashed potatoes.
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Reviews
-
An excellent recipe thanks Kooka. I was worried about it being overly salty (soup mix and stock powder) but it wasn't. I opted for the easy out and used the jarred roasted capsicums (worked wonderfully) and next time I make this I'd add a handful of pitted black olives and chopped parsley to finish. Our shanks were meltingly tender and we ate this over horseradish mashe dpotatoes.
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
<p>Above: Slideshow of our garden at Avalon Slideshow of our recent holiday at Woodgate Beach, South-East Queensland, Australia. Hi! I'm Kookaburra, from Australia. First, a promise. I will only post recipes on this site which I've made myself and to which I would personally give a 5 star rating - what you give them is up to you ;-) I look forward to receiving your feedback. If you look at my reviews, they're all 5 stars. That doesn't mean I give 5 stars to every recipe I try. I'm just not interested in giving poor ratings to anyone else's recipe because I accept that different people have different tastes. So, I've decided that I'll only review those recipes which I really love and which I'd make again and recommend to friends. If a recipe meets that criteria - even if it needs a bit of 'tweaking' to match my tastes, I'll give it 5 stars. If not, I'll just delete it from my recipe book and no hard feelings. I'm not advocating this as the 'right' approach. I just decided I needed a consistent strategy for rating and this is mine. I'm passionate about cooking - and eating! What I look for in food is something that 'zings' in the mouth. I like lots of taste - I'm not a big fan of subtlety. I don't often cook recipes exactly as written. I like to experiment and adapt things to my own taste. A retired marketing executive and academic, I live with my elderly (but thoroughly modern) mother in a tiny mountain village at the edge of the rainforest. I'm female, happily single, in my mid-40s and boast the Rubenesque figure of a passionate cook! Avalon, our 'story-book' cottage, overlooks a small lake. As I sit at my computer or work in the kitchen, I'm serenaded by a cacophany of native birds - including a very fat family of kookaburras! We have quite a large property and are lucky to have vegetable gardens and a variety of fruit and nut trees. I look forward to sharing recipes on Recipezaar with family, friends and friends I've yet to meet. last minute flight</p>