How to Cook Lamb Shanks

How to Cook Lamb Shanks How to Cook Lamb Shanks Before we get into the details of knowing how to cook and serve lamb shanks, let us first understand what a lamb shank is. A lamb shank is that portion of meat which is cut out from the shoulder and forearm of the lamb. Though this particular part of the lamb contains mostly bones, its meat is really delectable and worth tasting. Lamb shanks are usually cooked in liquids and the excess gravy is used to pour over the cooked shanks. Lamb shanks prove to be an excellent meal either for lunch or dinner. Served with vegetables, it can also prove its mettle as being a healthy source of protein. So, let us begin assembling the things which are needed for the cooking of lamb shanks. They are as follows:

Olive oil
4 (1lb) lamb shanks
Minced garlic
Onions
Beef broth
Cooking wine (red)
Bay leaf
Black pepper
Turnip
Carrots
Butter
Flour
Salt
Aluminum foil

The step by step guide of how to cook lamb shanks is given below:

Take a large stock pot and heat in it 1 tsp of olive oil. Make sure that the flame is of medium heat. Now place the lamb shanks into the pot and continue cooking till they become brown in color from all sides. After the color changes to brown, remove the lamb shanks from the stock pot and keep it aside.
Take one onion of medium size and chop it. Take 1 tsp of minced garlic and put it into the stock pot along with the chopped onion. Start cooking both of them until the onion begins to wilt. Cook the ingredients for about 2 to 3 minutes.
Now add ½ cup of red cooking wine, 1/8 tsp of black pepper, 1 bay leaf and 14 oz. of beef broth to the stock pot. Mix all the ingredients properly by stirring them. After stirring them well, add the lamb shanks to the stock pot. Now just cover the pot and let it simmer for one hour. Make sure that the flame is on medium low.
After an hour, take two medium sized carrots and dice them. Also dice one turnip, and two celery stalks and add them all to the stock pot. Let these entire ingredients simmer for about 30 minutes. You can stir the contents of the pot occasionally but refrain from stirring them frequently as the lamb shanks might break. Allow the ingredients to simmer in the pot until all the vegetables and the lamb shanks have become tender.
Take out the lamb shanks from the stock pot out onto a platter and cover it with some aluminum foil.
You can discard any of the excess fat from the surface of the broth. Now take 2 tbsp of butter and 2 tbsp of flour and mash them into a fine paste. Use this paste to thicken the gravy by adding them to the stock pot and stirring the mixture properly. Allow all the paste to be mixed properly onto the ingredients of the stock pot.
Add a little bit of salt and pepper into the gravy as seasoning and remove the pot from the stove. Garnish the lamb shanks with the vegetable gravy and serve hot!