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| Roast Lamb |
| Lamb Shanks cooked slowly in red wine served on a puree of butterbeans.
Serves 4
A large casserole and a food processor are needed.
Oven Temperatures:
- Gas mark 1-2, conventional oven 140-150° C, fan oven 130-140° C.
Ingredients:
- 4 lamb shanks.
- 6 canned anchovies.
- 12 small rosemary sprigs.
- 12 slivers of garlic.
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Ingredients for braising:
- Butter or dripping.
- 4 carrots, roughly chopped.
- 2 celery sticks, roughly chopped.
- 2 leeks, roughly chopped.
- 2 onions, roughly chopped.
- 2 heads of garlic, broken up.
- 2 fresh rosemary sprigs.
- 2 fresh bay leaves.
- 1 bottle of red wine.
- About 300ml / 1/2 pint of chicken or lamb stock, or water.
Ingredients for butterbean mixture:
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil.
- 225g / 8oz streak bacon lardons (small cubes), blanched.
- 1 carrot, finely diced.
- 1 celery stick, finely diced.
- 1 onion stick, finely diced.
- 12 garlic cloves, peeled but left whole.
- 4 fresh thyme sprigs.
- 4 fresh rosemary sprigs, chopped.
- 8 tomatoes, skinned and chopped or 1 can of chopped tomatoes, drained
- 400g / 14oz can of butterbeans, drained.
To serve:
- 2.5cm / 1 inch rounds of French bread.
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| Method |
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- Trim most of the fat from the lamb shanks. Make three deep incisions in each one and insert in each, half an anchovy wrapped with a sprig of rosemary and a sliver of garlic.
- Season the meat.
- Heat the butter or dripping in a large casserole, add the lamb shanks and fry until browned all over.
- Remove the meat from the pan and put to one side. Add the carrot, celery, leeks, onions, garlic and herbs. Cook over a high heat until the vegetables are brown.
- Pour in the red wine, scraping up the residue from the pan to deglaze.
- Add the stock or the water.
- Place the lamb shanks on top of the vegetables, then cover and cook in a pre-heated oven, for 2-2 1/2 hours until the meat is tender. Turn the joints over in the sauce occasionally, adding a little water or stock if necessary.
To make the butterbean mixture:
- Heat the oil in a large pan and brown the bacon in it.
- Reduce the heat and add the carrot, celery, onion and garlic. Cook for about 8 minutes unitl softened. Stir in the thyme, rosemary, tomatoes and butterbeans, then set aside.
- When the lamb has finished cooking, remove the meat from the casserole and keep warm in a separate casserole. Whizz the residue of ingredients in a blender or a food processor until smooth.
- Pass the sauce through a sieve on to the bean mixture and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Season to taste, then pour the mixture over the lamb and heat through in the oven for 10 minutes. Serve garnished with toasted French bread.
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