For those who like a bit of spice.....
Prep
Time: 5 minutes
Cooking
Time: 25 minutes
Baking
Time: 2 hours
Makes
4-6 servings
Ingredients:
1/3
c. (75mL) all-purpose flour
1 ½
tsp. (7mL) curry powder
1
tsp. (5mL) ground cinnamon
½
tsp. (2mL) ground allspice
½
tsp. (2mL) salt
6-8
lamb shanks, about 6 lbs. (3 kg) total
1 to
2 tbsp. (15 to 30mL) olive oil
1 c. (250mL) chopped carrots
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
6 garlic cloves, sliced
¼ c. (50mL) cognac or brandy
1
¼ c.
(300mL) dry red wine
2 c. (500mL) chicken broth
5 ½ oz. (156mL) canned tomato paste
Finely grated peel of 1 small orange
1 tsp. (5mL) hot red chili flakes
1 tsp. (5mL) fennel seeds (optional)
1 bay leaf
½ c. (125mL) chopped coriander or flat-leaf parsley
(optional)
Preparation:
1. In a small bowl, stir flour with curry powder, cinnamon, allspice,
and salt. Rub shanks well with flour mixture. Set aside remaining
flour mixture.
2.
Heat 1 tbsp. (15mL) oil
over medium-high heat in a large, deep, 16-cup (4L) ovenproof
saucepan or Dutch Oven. In 2 batches, brown shanks on all sides, from
8-10 minutes, adding more oil, if necessary. Remove shanks as they
are browned to a plate.
3.
Preheat oven to 350F (180C). After removing shanks from pan, lower
burner temperature to medium. Add carrots, onion and garlic to pan.
Add more oil if needed. Cook, stirring often, until onion softens,
about 5 minutes. Stir in any
remaining flour mixture. Return
shanks to pan. Pour cognac over shanks and onion mixture. Carefully
bring a lit match close to onion mixture and ignite.
4.
When flames have died out, add 1 cup (250mL) wine, broth, tomato
paste, peel, chili flakes, fennel seeds, if using, and bay leaf.
Increase heat to high and bring sauce to a boil, stirring to blend
flour-onion mixture with liquid and tomato paste. If shanks are
large, you may have to remove 1 or 2 from pan to achieve the
blending, then return them
to pan.
5.
Cover tightly and place in
a 350F (180C) oven. Turn shanks every hour and stir sauce until the
meat is fork tender, 2 to 3 hours. Fresh, never frozen shanks take 2
hours, while previously frozen shanks may need 3 hours.
6.
Remove shanks to a warm platter. Cover with a tent of foil to keep
warm. Stir ¼ cup (50mL) wine into sauce to perk up flavour. Unless
sauce is thick enough to coat shanks, place saucepan over hot heat
and boil sauce, uncovered and stirring often, until reduced enough to
thickly coat meat. You will have to stir sauce constantly near end of
cooking to prevent it from sticking. Remove and discard bay leaf.
Spoon sauce over shanks and sprinkle with coriander if liked.
Make Ahead:
This is a perfect recipe to make ahead as flavours improve with
refrigeration. The entire dish can be made 2 days ahead, then
covered and refrigerated until ready to serve. To reheat, set
saucepan over medium-low heat,. Cover and stir often until piping
hot. Or reheat covered and stirring often in a 350F (180C) oven. This
dish also freezes beautifully and can be defrosted in the
refrigerator overnight or in microwave.
