Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks in Red Wine

My slightly varied version of Gary Rhodes delicious Lamb Shank recipe. Truly mouth-watering moist and tender! I’ve made this a few times now. The first time I made this I used a medium bodied wine and it turned out just as fantastic. If you want to make this exactly like Gary’s then only use 1 carrot, 2 cloves garlic, 1 sprig of rosemary, do all the stovetop and oven cooking in large stew pan or dutch oven, use beef consommé instead of beef stock and the thickening of the red wine sauce is optional. This is a truly wonderful meal and worthy of a dinner party, special occasion or just a romantic meal. I hope you like it as much as we do.

• Ready In: 3 hrs 20 mins
• Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 4 (1 1/2lb)  lamb shanks
• 2  large carrots, roughly chopped
• 1  onion, sliced
• 3  garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 2  bay leaves
• 2  sprigs rosemary
• 750  ml full-bodied red wine (1 bottle)
• 2  cups  beef stock
• 1  tablespoon soft brown sugar
• 1 -2  teaspoon cornflour (cornstarch)
•  olive oil, for cooking
•  salt & pepper

Directions

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