Lamb Shanks

My local butcher is wonderful and I get all of our meat there. He is always happy to offer advice and always has such a fabulous selection. He sells amazing sausages that are my husbands favourite. When I visited the other day I noticed that he had some lamb shanks. I have had these on several occasions when I have been out but have never cooked them myself. Along with lots of other goodies I decided to buy a couple.

So when I get home I had a good look through my cookery books so that I could decide on the best way to cook these. My butcher recommended long slow cooking and I found lots of wonderful recipes. In the end I decided to use some ideas from a recipe in one of my books but I made some changes.

I cooked my lamb shanks for about three hours and they were divine. I served them with buttery mashed potato. They were a real hit and I'll definately get them again.

This recipe serves 2.

• 2 lamb shanks
• olive oil
• 1 leek chopped
• 1 stick celery chopped
• 1 onion chopped
• 4-5 garlic cloves unpeeled
• 1 carrot roughly sliced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 sprig thyme
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 200ml red wine
• 300ml chicken stock

Take a large casserole dish place on the hob over a high heat. Pour in enough olive oil to fill the casserole dish so it is about 1cm deep. When hot add the lamb shanks and turn them occasionally until they are browned.

Once the lamb shanks are nicely browned remove them from the casserole and place on a warmed plate. Add the leek, celery, onion, carrot and garlic to the casserole dish. Stir them together and then add the bay leaf, thyme and rosemary.

Once the vegetables are lightly browned place the lamb shanks back into the pot so that it rests on top of the vegetables.

Pour in the red wine and the chicken stock and bring to the boil.

Place the lid on the casserole dish and place in an oven that has been preheated to gas mark 2/ 150C. Cook slowly for about 3 hours or longer if you want. Before serving remove the herbs. Once ready lift the lamb shanks from the dish and place on warmed plates. Serve with the vegetables and the red wine sauce from the casserole dish.