Description
You’ve never had lamb shanks like these before.
Ingredients
Scale
- 4 lamb shanks (approximately 5 ½ lb)*
- Olive oil
- Spice blend (recipe follows)
- 4 large bay leaves
- 1 white onion, finely chopped
- 10 large garlic cloves, peeled
- 10 small shallots, peeled and sliced in half lengthwise
- 2 tsp salt
- ¼ cup diced tomatoes
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp honey
- ¾ tsp black pepper
- 13 dried Turkish apricots (8 sliced into thirds and 5 whole)
- 10 dried Turkish figs (5 sliced into ¼-inch pieces and 5 whole)
- 2 cups good-quality dry red wine like Cabernet Sauvignon
- 2 cups chicken broth10 oz package crimini mushrooms, thickly sliced
For spice blend:
- 2 tbsp coriander seeds
- 2 tsp black peppercorns
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 2-inch piece cinnamon stick
- 3 cloves
Instructions
For spice blend:
- Dry roast all ingredients in a skillet until fragrant, then cool, and grind into a fine powder using a spice or coffee grinder.
For the lamb:
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
- Remove all packaging on the shanks, rinse, and pat dry. Leave the twine wrapped around the shanks as it holds the meat together. Cut and discard the twine after cooking.
- Heat a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven large enough to hold the shanks and pour enough olive oil to liberally coat the bottom.
- Rub 3/4 of the spice blend on all sides of the shanks, reserving the remaining to add with the onions.
- Sear 2 shanks at a time, approximately 3 minutes a side. Remove and sear the last 2, adding more olive oil if necessary.
- After removing the shanks from the pot, add the bay leaves followed by the chopped onions, whole garlic cloves, and shallots. Sprinkle a teaspoon of salt and stir. Once the onions start to become lightly golden, sprinkle the remaining spice blend and stir again.
- After a minute, add in the diced tomatoes and cook for two minutes. Then pour in the apple cider vinegar and honey along with the black pepper and remaining teaspoon of salt.
- Place the sliced apricots and figs in the pot with the other ingredients and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Pour in the wine and chicken broth and stir to combine. Place the whole apricots and figs in at this time and bring to a boil. Once the braising liquid is boiling, turn off the heat and place the seared lamb shanks back into the pot making sure that the liquid is covering at least ½-3/4 of the sides of the meat. Cover tightly with a lid and place in the center rack of a 325-degree preheated oven.
- Slow-braise in the oven for 2 hours then open and place the sliced mushrooms around the shanks, stirring carefully to submerge them in the braising liquid, Cover and cook for at least 1 more hour or until meat is falling off the bone.
- Remove the shanks and then place the Dutch oven on top of the stove to boil, stirring so as to not burn the bottom. Continue heating the braising liquid until it thickens to the consistency of a sauce. When ready to serve, pour the thickened sauce over the shanks.
Notes
Pure Bred Lamb donated the product for this recipe.