Ever get a craving for something? A lamb shank called my name.
A post from Carolyn. Rarely do I eat lamb. I love it, but whenever I look at the nutrition and see how much fat there is in lamb, usually I reconsider. This time I gave in to my craving and bought a nice honkin’ lamb shank. Looking through my recipes to try, I found this one. Originally, this came from Food & Wine, awhile back, when they provided an online listing of the 40 best recipes of all time. Certainly I pay attention when a magazine makes that kind of statement. By the way, have you noticed that Bon Appetit and Epicurious are now going to charge for access to their recipe files? Makes me so very frustrated. When I find a recipe published by them (that I don’t have from a recent issue of one of Epicurious’s magazines), I go online to do a search, and usually I’ll find the recipe somewhere else, somebody else has made it, or at least published it. And there’s no charge. I’m not going to pay for access to those. I already subscribe online (paid subscription) to Cook’s Illustrated (the group that also includes America’s Test Kitchen and Cook’s Country), Milk Street, and the New York Times. I’ve decided that’s enough.
Back to this recipe. From the get-go, I’ll just say – – I don’t know about the ranking of one of the 40 best recipes of all time. I mean . . . these were really good, but not sure they qualify with those kind of bragging rights. Just sayin’ . . . . .but would I make them again? I might. Mostly because it was really easy. Read on . . .
So here’s what’s involved. A whole lot of garlic. With the exception of that infamous recipe of chicken with 40 cloves of garlic, this may be the most amount of garlic I’ve ever used in a single recipe. I only made one lamb shank, but the recipe for four shanks calls for 36 cloves of garlic – some peeled, some left whole in the skin. Lamb can surely handle a heavy hand of garlic and I loved the flavor in this. Anyway, you brown the lamb shank(s) on numerous sides, then add seasonings and part of the garlic, and it goes into a 300°F oven for 2 hours, turning the shank(s) every 20 minutes. Once out of the oven you remove the shank(s) and begin cooking the peppers and onions. Onions weren’t in the original recipe, but I do like the combo of peppers and onions – and I had a big red onion that needed to be used up. I did end up adding a bit of water to the peppers so they wouldn’t burn, and once the veggies were done you make a tiny amount of a pan sauce. I added a bit of water to that as well. And you’re done. There’s bay leaf and thyme in this dish also. If I were making this for guests, I’d add a bed of buttery mashed potatoes or creamy polenta and nestle the shank onto/beside it. Make a salad, and that’s dinner.
The Food & Wine recipe called for fresh thyme (I used dried) and fresh bay leaves. Not very many people have a bay laurel tree in their yard. I sure don’t. So I used dried. And then I added the onions, more broth and a tiny bit of dried thyme in the sauce.
What’s GOOD: the succulent lamb, first and foremost. Loved the flavor of the garlic with peppers and onions. Next time I’d double the amount of peppers and onion (I’ve made a note of that in the recipe). The veggies were a wonderful foil to the richness of the lamb. Worth making, and don’t skimp on the garlic. Each lamb shank (for me, anyway) made two servings. Would make a nice company dinner, but at the price of lamb shanks (each shank was about $15) it would make a very pricey meal. The recipe is really very easy to do – seasoning, browning, 2 hours of roasting, chopping of the peppers and onion and little bit of cooking after that. Very simple. Can be made the day ahead, the recipe said.
What’s NOT: only that it takes a few hours to make (minimum 2 1/2 hours).
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Garlicky Braised Lamb Shanks with Sweet Peppers and Onions
Recipe By: Adapted a little from Food & Wine best 40 recipes of all time, 2022
Servings: 4
4 lamb shanks, whole — about a pound or more each
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
12 garlic cloves — unpeeled
24 garlic cloves — peeled
2 whole bay leaves
1 tablespoon dried thyme
PEPPERS:
3 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 large red bell pepper — cut into 1/4-inch strips (more recommended)
1 medium yellow bell pepper — cut into 1/4-inch strips (more recommended)
1 large red onion — thinly sliced (more recommended)
SAUCE:
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
(you might need a few tablespoons more broth or water)
NOTE: the peppers and onions add a lot of flavor and texture to this. I recommend you double the amount of them. You’ll need to increase the amount of chicken broth and butter too, and maybe a bit more thyme as well. If the long-braised garlic cloves (in their skins) aren’t burned, squeeze the succulent garlic out into the sauce you make at the end.
1. Preheat oven to 300°F. Sprinkle lamb with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon butter in a large ovenproof Dutch oven over medium until foamy. Add 2 shanks, all of the unpeeled garlic cloves, bay leaves, and thyme sprigs, and cook, turning occasionally, until browned all over, about 15 minutes. Transfer browned shanks, unpeeled garlic, bay leaves, and thyme sprigs to a platter, and set aside. Add remaining shanks to Dutch oven, and cook, turning occasionally, until browned all over, about 15 minutes. Return browned shanks, unpeeled garlic, bay leaves, and thyme to Dutch oven. Cover and transfer to preheated oven. Cook, flipping shanks every 20 minutes, until very tender, about 2 hours.
3. Remove lamb shanks, and set aside. Pour chicken broth into Dutch oven, and bring to a boil over high, scraping up any browned bits from bottom of Dutch oven. (Use a fat separator if you have one, otherwise use next method here.) Remove from heat; use a ladle to skim off fat from surface, and discard. Return broth to a boil over high, skimming surface often and discarding fat, until reduced to 2 cups, about 10 minutes. Pour broth mixture through a fine wire-mesh strainer into a large measuring cup; discard solids. Skim remaining fat from surface, and discard. Wipe Dutch oven clean; pour strained stock into Dutch oven.
4. Add peeled garlic cloves to strained broth, and simmer over medium-low until garlic is slightly tender, about 20 minutes, flipping garlic cloves after 10 minutes. Return lamb to Dutch oven. (The lamb can be cooked up to a day ahead. Refrigerate, covered; reheat before proceeding.)
5. Scatter bell peppers around lamb, and cook over medium-low, moving peppers around lamb occasionally, until peppers and garlic are tender, about 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer lamb shanks to warm serving plates. Add remaining 1 tablespoon butter, thyme, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon black pepper to sauce, and stir until creamy. If mixture gets too dry, add more chicken broth or water to make a small amount of sauce. Remove from heat. Spoon sauce with bell peppers and garlic cloves around lamb shanks and peppers and serve immediately.
Per Serving: 603 Calories; 23g Fat (63.0% calories from fat); 8g Protein; 23g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 222mg Cholesterol; 980mg Sodium; 6g Total Sugars; 0mcg Vitamin D; 102mg Calcium; 3mg Iron; 565mg Potassium; 150mg Phosphorus.
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