Braised lamb shanks with tomatoes and fresh herbs with sauteed kale and creamy polenta

Last night I made lamb for dinner and it was really, really good. Yes, it took many hours to make and yes, I know that time is money and convenience rules the kingdom of America; but imagine eating like this once a week! Even once a month is pretty darn good. The actual cost of the ingredients is roughly equal to what this would cost for one person in a fine dining establishment, but last night there were four portions. We also had a tasty red wine and some vanilla pudding for dessert.

I think the real luxury behind the meal was that we had this during the week. This is the one exception I sympathize with regarding this meal. Another person might be shocked to see this as a Wednesday night meal; it is more likely to prepare an elaborate meal over the weekend. It would still require many hours, but that time would be borrowed from the precious weekend clock. In this case, I do have the time and I wanted to make a special meal for our neighbors, who have been kind enough to give us wild salmon they catch on their weekend fishing trips.

As you may remember, I mentioned making this dish on last Friday’s post “Kale, how I love thee.” I had 2 packages of lamb shanks from our last meat pickup and I knew I wanted to do something special with these shanks. The recipe I found came from Epicurious – an excellent site for finding simple and elaborate meals. This particular dish is called ‘lamb shanks with tomatoes and fresh herbs’ and you can click here for the recipe. I chose this dish for a number of reasons. The most important of which was cost. Looking at recipes for shanks, I look for rave reviews and the ingredient list. I always try to do recipes that maximize the ingredients in my cupboard or fridge (this is a key rule to successful meal planning!) For this dish we already had chicken stock (remember the feet), tomatoes (from the in-law’s garden), fresh thyme and rosemary from our backyard, and the shanks from Afton Field Farm. The side dishes – kale (from our garden) and polenta (had in the cupboard) – were a given.

A bunch of kale picked fresh from the backyard.

Again, I admit that this meal was time consuming to make but the result was really worth the effort. Because I was so excited about this dish, I want to share with you the process of eating like royalty.

Firstly, braising is a cooking technique which requires the meat to be first browned and then cooked at a low heat for a long time with a liquid. Before searing the meat, I washed each shank, patted them dry with some paper towels, and prepared a rub consisting of salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary, fennel seeds and coriander. Once the rub was mixed together, I worked the spices all over each shank as best I could. Then, according to the recipe, the shanks rested for 30 minutes.

As the shanks rested, I began to prep for the braising. I chopped carrots, celery and leek (I had one to substitute for onion.) I chopped up some more thyme and tomatoes, measured out the stock and wine, and peeled some lemon rind too. All this chopping was not so bad, I always enjoy practicing my knife skills. The first unexpected obstacle was actually the searing the meat. After 30 minutes of resting, I took out my biggest pot (6 quart) and let the incredibly slow electric burner heat it up. Then I added some olive oil and placed the shanks in the pot. The goal is to brown all the sides of each shank. Because the shape of the shank is not straight on all sides, you must be willing to let some parts be a little less brown than others. In the recipe it said this should take about 12 minutes, in my reality this took 30. Once the shanks are browned they are removed from the pot and laid to rest (again) on a plate or cutting board or bowl.

In the pot I put the carrots, leek and celery and let them cook until soft, then added some chopped garlic for 1 minute. Next went the lemon strips, bay leaves and more thyme. Then the wine was poured in and the deglazing began. Deglazing refers to the process of scraping up any burnt bits on the bottom of the pot. The liquid loosens the debris and you are able to add more flavor to the braising liquid. This is an important step in the process, often requiring wine or water or stock.

Once this begins boiling, I added the tomatoes and chicken broth. Then, with all of these flavors brewing in the pot, I added the shanks. Again, given their size, it was a bit tricky to make them all fit. But I did and it looked great.

Let the braising begin!

Over the next hour and a half the shanks were in the oven with the lid on the pot. Every 30 minutes I would take them out and move them around, placing different sides in the liquid. After 90 minutes the pot goes back on the stovetop and boils until the liquid is reduced. Now the recipe says to boil for an additional 30 minutes but the liquid in my pot took way longer. The boiling lasted at least an hour. While the kitchen filled with wonderful smells, I warmed up the polenta and cooked the kale. Before the plating the food looked and smelled amazing!

Finally the lamb is ready!

By now the lamb is falling off the bone, the sauce is rich and creamy with vegetables and other infused flavors. It was a meal worth the work. I recommend making this on a Sunday or Saturday when you have the time; maybe on a cold night or for a special dinner. Dee-lish-us!

Related posts:

1. Risotto is worth the effort, trust me
2. Simple, healthy and delicious
3. Chicken Stock
4. The Last Dance with Kale (weekly menu 27)
5. The Kale Vacuum

Tags: afton field farm, Bulk purchase, cooking, Grass-Fed, lamb, Recipes