So when making plans for my husbands birthday weekend one of the things he requested was a 3 course meal with 2 of our friends – and i was happy to oblige 🙂
so the 3 course meal he requested was:
Starters – Roasted butternut soup with cream and pumpkin seeds
Main course – Lamb shank on a bed of mash potatoes with a side of garden salad
Dessert – Decadent Chocolate Mousse with a Vanilla Marscapone and cream topping
well he didn’t quite ask for the vanilla marscapone and cream topping – that i added myself but he did ask for the chocolate mousse 🙂 and the soup and lamb shanks with mash and salad. My man has such good taste 🙂
So I proceded to cook my day away friday to complete all the food for friday night. This sounds so much more dramatic than it really is. It wasn’t that hectic and I did manage to pop down to the market in the afternoon and come home and bath, wash my hair and blow dry it – so you see it didn’t take me to long to cook otherwise i wouldn’t have had time to do all those other things 🙂 Our lovely guests were fellow blogger Brazen from being brazen and her Boyfriend – take a look at her blog here.
so for this post I’ll put up the recipe for the Lambshank.I have done a post/recipe for the butternut soup a few months ago so please look for it here
LAMBSHANKS ON A BED OF MASH WITH A GARDEN SIDE SALAD
yes i really did make this myself 🙂
INGREDIENTS
4 lamb shanks (i used free range lamb)
2 onions finely diced
2 tins of peeled italian organic tomatoes or 8 large fresh tomatoes peeled and cubed
1 glass good quality red wine
1 cup beef or roast onion stock
3 medium sprigs of fresh rosemary
half an organic lemon cut in 3 chunks
salt and pepper
sugar
METHOD
1) Season shanks with lots of salt and black pepper to taste then fry shanks in batches in a HOT frying pan with some olive or sunflower oil. Brown on all sides and then set aside in an oven dish that all 4 shanks will fit in together.
2) in the same pan that you browned the shanks cook the finely diced onion until soft and light brown -use more oil if needed then place ontop of the shanks.
3) then add to the dish of shanks and onion the tomatoe, wine and stock with the rosemary and lemon nestled inbetween – lightly sprinkle with a tiny bit of sugar and cover and place in the oven at 180 degrees celcius for roughly 2 hours – check randomly and turn.
4) uncover for the last half an hour and spoon the tomatoe sauce over the shanks and let the sauce thicken while cooking. If you are preparing the shanks in advance then take them out at this stage before the sauce thickens to much and leave covered in the fridge until half an hour to 45 minuted before serving place in a prewarmed oven of 180 degrees celcius and serve on a bed of mash potatoes and a side salad or veg of your choice
Bon apetit
Betty Bake 