Serves 4 as a main course
Ingredients
- 4 lamb shanks
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 400g (14oz) red onions, peeled and cut into wedges through the core
- 100g (3½oz) celery, trimmed and cut at an angle into 1cm (½in) chunks
- 8 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
- 2 tblsp chopped sage
- 250ml (9fl oz) red beer or ale
- 500ml (18fl oz) light lamb or chicken stock
- 1 tblsp tomato purée
Method
- Preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F), Gas mark 2.
- Trim some fat from the shanks and render it over a medium heat in a pot big enough to take the four shanks. Season the shanks with salt and pepper.
- Turn the heat up to high and fry the lamb shanks in the pot until golden on all sides. You might need to brown them two at a time. Remove the shanks, leaving any fat behind, then fry the onions, celery and garlic for a few minutes and season again.
- Return the shanks to the pot with the sage, beer, stock and tomato purée. Bring to the boil, then cover with a lid and cook in the oven for 2½–3 hours until the meat is succulent and almost falling off the bone.
- Serve on a bed of Roast Garlic Mash or plain mashed potatoes with plenty of the braising liquid.
