Chef Thomas
A Proper Chicken Broth
Sunday's roast chicken, simmered slowly on Monday with carrots, celery, leeks, and thyme into a bowl of clear, golden broth that smells like the kitchen is paying attention.
Culinary Explorer
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Braised Lamb Shanks
Created by Chef Thomas
Lamb shanks surrendered to red wine and rosemary for three slow hours, until the bone slides clean and the sauce is dark and sticky and worth every minute of the wait.
Soups & Stews
British
Dinner Party
Comfort Food
25 min
Active Time
3 hr 15 min cook•3 hr 40 min total
Yield4 servings
There's a particular kind of January evening that calls for this. The light gone by four, the kitchen fogged, the sort of cold that sits in your coat even after you've come inside. You want something that's been in the oven for hours, something that fills the house with a smell you can lean into.
Lamb shanks are not a quick dinner. I won't pretend otherwise. But they ask almost nothing of you beyond the first twenty minutes of browning and chopping. After that, the oven does the work while you do whatever you like. Three hours later, you open the door and the meat is falling from the bone, the sauce has gone dark and sticky, and the marrow has melted into everything. The kitchen smells like the kind of evening you'd choose if someone gave you the option.
One shank per person. It looks generous, and it is. Set it on a pile of mash, the buttery, overworked kind that catches the sauce, and pour what's left in the pot over the top. There are few better feelings than putting a plate like this in front of someone on a cold night. The wine, the rosemary, the slow collapse of the meat into something yielding and rich: none of it is difficult. It just takes time, and time is the one ingredient you can't replace with anything else.
I wrote it down in the notebook years ago: lamb, red wine, rosemary, January. That's all it said. That's all it needed to say.
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Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
lamb shanks
Quantity
4, about 350-400g each
olive oil
Quantity
2 tablespoons
onions
Quantity
2
halved and sliced
carrots
Quantity
2
cut into rough chunks
celery
Quantity
2 sticks
roughly chopped
garlic
Quantity
4 cloves
smashed with the flat of a knife
tomato purée
Quantity
2 tablespoons
red wine
Quantity
500ml
beef or lamb stock
Quantity
500ml
fresh rosemary
Quantity
3-4 sprigs
bay leaves
Quantity
2
fine sea salt
Quantity
to taste
black pepper
Quantity
to taste
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| lamb shanks | 4, about 350-400g each |
| olive oil | 2 tablespoons |
| onionshalved and sliced | 2 |
| carrotscut into rough chunks | 2 |
| celeryroughly chopped | 2 sticks |
| garlicsmashed with the flat of a knife | 4 cloves |
| tomato purée | 2 tablespoons |
| red wine | 500ml |
| beef or lamb stock | 500ml |
| fresh rosemary | 3-4 sprigs |
| bay leaves | 2 |
| fine sea salt | to taste |
| black pepper | to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •Large heavy casserole with a tight-fitting lid, something like a Le Creuset or similar
- •Tongs for turning the shanks
- •Wooden spoon
Instructions
- 1
Brown the shanks
Set the oven to 160C/140C fan. Season the lamb shanks generously with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy casserole over a high heat. When the oil shimmers and just begins to smoke, lay the shanks in the pot, two at a time if space is tight. Brown them properly on all sides. This isn't a quick sear. You want deep, dark colour, the kind that smells of roasting meat and caramelised fat. Five or six minutes per batch. Lift them out onto a plate when they're done.
Don't crowd the pot. Cold meat in a crowded pan releases moisture and stews instead of browning. If you can only fit two shanks comfortably, do two. The colour you build here is the foundation of the whole dish. - 2
Soften the vegetables
Turn the heat down to medium. In the same pot, with all the sticky, browned bits still on the bottom, add the onions, carrots, and celery. A pinch of salt. Stir them through the fat and cook for eight to ten minutes, until the onions are soft and translucent and the edges of everything are starting to take on a little colour. Add the garlic and the tomato purée, stir it through, and let it cook for another minute or two until the purée darkens and smells sweet rather than sharp.
- 3
Add wine and reduce
Pour in the red wine. It will hiss and bubble and lift all those dark, sticky bits off the bottom of the pot. This is what you want. Scrape with a wooden spoon and let the wine simmer for five minutes or so, until it has reduced by roughly half and the raw alcohol smell has given way to something deeper and more rounded. The liquid should look dark, almost syrupy.
Use a wine you'd pour yourself a glass of while you cook. Nothing expensive, but nothing you wouldn't drink. A decent Côtes du Rhône or a Malbec works well. The sauce carries the character of whatever you put in, so it should be something you like. - 4
Assemble and braise
Pour in the stock and tuck the rosemary sprigs and bay leaves into the liquid. Nestle the lamb shanks back into the pot, pressing them down so they're mostly submerged. The liquid won't cover them completely. That's fine. Bring everything to a gentle simmer on the hob, then put the lid on and transfer to the oven. Three hours. That's all you need to remember. After that, you're free.
- 5
Check and finish the sauce
After three hours, take the lid off. The meat should be pulling away from the bone, soft and yielding, the kind of tender where a spoon could do the job of a knife. Carefully lift the shanks out and set them aside, covered loosely. Fish out the rosemary stalks and bay leaves. If the sauce is thin, set the pot on the hob over a medium heat and let it simmer, uncovered, for ten to fifteen minutes until it has reduced to something glossy and dark, with body enough to coat the back of a spoon. Taste it. Season again if it needs it. It probably will.
Trust your nose. When the sauce smells concentrated and rich, when it clings to the spoon instead of running off, it's ready. A recipe can't tell you the exact moment. Your senses can. - 6
Serve on mash
Make a generous mound of buttery mash on each warm plate. Set a lamb shank on top and spoon the sauce over and around. Be generous with the sauce. It has earned its place. The marrow from the bones will have melted into the braising liquid, giving it a richness that no amount of butter or stock could replicate. Serve with something green on the side if you like, some steamed greens or a simple salad, but honestly, the shank and the mash and the sauce are enough. More than enough.
Chef Tips
- •This is better the next day. Make it on a Saturday afternoon, let it cool, refrigerate it overnight, and reheat it gently on Sunday. The sauce tightens, the flavours deepen, and any fat rises to the surface where you can lift it off with a spoon. The second day is when this dish becomes itself.
- •Don't be tempted to skip the browning. I know it's messy and the oil spits and you have to do the shanks in batches. But the colour you build on the meat and on the bottom of the pot is where the depth of the finished sauce comes from. A pale shank makes a pale braise. There's no fixing it later.
- •Mash is the thing here. Floury potatoes, plenty of butter, a splash of warm milk, and don't be shy with the salt. You want it soft and rich, the kind that holds a spoonful of sauce in a little well. Rice is fine. Polenta will work. But mash is right.
- •Ask your butcher for shanks of a similar size so they cook evenly. A small shank sitting next to a large one will be overdone by the time its neighbour is ready.
Advance Preparation
- •The whole dish can be made up to two days ahead and refrigerated. Reheat gently in the oven at 150C for thirty to forty minutes, covered, until warmed through. The flavour improves with a night in the fridge.
- •Freezes well for up to three months. Cool completely, then freeze the shanks in the sauce. Defrost overnight in the fridge and reheat in a low oven.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 400g)
Calories
530 calories
Total Fat
28 g
Saturated Fat
9 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
17 g
Cholesterol
150 mg
Sodium
950 mg
Total Carbohydrates
18 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
8 g
Protein
48 g
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