Spring Lamb Shank with Gremolata

Do you like tender, fall off the bone, slow braised lamb? Any objections to lots of flavor with minimal effort? You don't need to spend lots of money at a restaurant to enjoy a restaurant quality meal. You just need good quality ingredients, a little patience, and lots of love.

This is a meal to be enjoyed slowly, to be savored -- one bite of lamby goodness at a time.

 I wish you could smell what is going on in my kitchen...

First, a quick shout out to the farmers in Mount Vernon, Virginia, for raising such high-quality, grass-fed lamb and to Bon Vivant for making such fine farm food available for local dinner tables.

Now, lets get back to the lamb. The shank is the portion of meat around the tibia or shin of the animal. This part of the muscle is heavily worked, which translates into dark, rich meat with lots of flavor. Since these muscles get lots of exercise, they are a bit tougher than other cuts, and must be braised low and slow for several hours, to tenderize, until the meat falls off the bone. Braising meats generally consists of first browning the meat on all sides on the stove top to get a nice crust and then popping it in the oven with some liquid (in this case, white wine and chicken broth) for several hours.

This is a one-pot meal that is incredibly easy to prepare, and even produces its own sauce, no extra work required. Not just any old blah sauce, but a sauce that is packed with flavor -- a bit of sweetness from the onions and carrots, a bit of earthiness from the lamb juices, hints of wine, rosemary, and just a little bit of heat from the chiles to bring it all together. Drizzle it all over the finished lamb and serve with a slice or two of crusty bread to sop up the rest.

You can prepare the gremolata (parsley, lemon zest, and garlic), which takes just a few seconds to toss together, and then just set the timer and wait, patiently, enjoying a glass of wine in the mean time. 

Shank = is the portion of meat around the tibia (shin)

Gremolata = parsley + lemon zest + garlic

Arni = lamb in Greek

Braised Lamb Shank

slightly adapted from Alice Water's The Art of Simple Food

2 to 4 lamb shanks (about 1 pound each)

salt and freshly ground pepper

olive oil

2 onions, peeled and cut into large slices

2 carrots, peeled and cut into large pieces

3-4 small potatoes, quartered
1 head of garlic, cut in half

1-2 small dried red chile peppers

4 whole black peppercorns

2 sprigs rosemary

1 bay leaf

3/4 cup white wine

2 medium tomatoes or half of a 14 1/2-ounce canned tomatoes, cored and chopped

2 cups chicken broth

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. 

Season the lamb shanks liberally with salt and pepper, the day before if possible. Heat a heavy-bottomed pan or dutch oven, with enough oil to generously cover the bottom of the pan, over medium-high heat. Add the shanks and brown them well on all sides, about 12 minutes or so. When the shanks are brown, remove them from the pan and set aside. 

Add the onions, carrots, potatoes, garlic, chile peppers, peppercorns, rosemary, and bay leaf. Cook for a few minutes, stirring now and then, until the vegetables soften. Add the wine and tomatoes. Raise the heat to reduce the wine, and scrape any brown bits on the bottom of the pan. When the wine has reduced in half, put the shanks back in the pan and add the chicken broth. The liquid should come halfway up the shanks. Bring to a boil, cover, and place in the oven for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Remove the cover for the last 20 minutes of cooking to brown the meat a little. 

Serve immediately (with the sauce and vegetables) sprinkled with gremolata.

Notes:  The recipe calls for four shanks (I used two), figure one per person. The recipe also calls for passing the sauce through a food mill after it comes out of the oven. I opted to skip this step, owing to ravenous hunger, and drizzled the sauce over the lamb and served the vegetables on the side.

Gremolata

3 tablespoons chopped parsley

1 teaspoon finely chopped lemon zest

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Mix all the ingredients together.