1. Nigella says they're cheap - £4/lb for a bone doesn't sound cheap?
2. She allows 8 for 6 people. I only have 4 for 4.
3. In both cases, are mine a bit bigger than the norm & thus will serve 4 - & seem better pricewise?
Total weight is 4.5lb.
I love lamb Tim especially the shoulder but it does not like me allways get indigestion after. :'(
lovely looking shanks Tim - do you have a favorite recipe.
Never done them - I'm trusting Nigella.
We love lamb shanks Tim and eat them regularly. The size varies enormously. I f yours are as big or bigger than the mug they are beside they should be ample for 4 people. Sometimes when we get spring lamb from the farm down the road the shanks are quite small but then so is the lamb. Good luck with the recipe.
Sorry I forgot to say - when they are cooked they just fall off the bone.
Great!
Yes - I like most things long & slow & collapsing!
Hope they went down well then Tim?
Lamb shanks.....1 per person. Can't be doing with divvying up something that should be served entire and on the bone? If you're using the meat after cooking in another dish, OK...but if that was the case I'd choose another cut of meat ;D
If the shanks seem large (even given the bigger bone inside them?) solution has to be.....send potential diners to do some weedin and diggin before lunch to work up a healthy appetite ;) In all events, shanks, while 'in' atm, are, essentially, hearty fare.
So....were they good? I don't really like Nigella's way of cooking stuff (from only the TV programme I watched last year..) far too many sweeteners used....bet there was a honey baste somewhere on the shanks if it was a Nigella recipe? YEP! Bet you a clove of elephant garlic there was.... ;D
We'll see on Friday.
Just doing them now to mature.
So glad I didn't ask for more - the 4 fill my biggest (big) pan!
I did lamb shanks for the first time about 3 weeks ago Tim and I felt worried that I needed more than 1 per person but I really didn't!
I bought mine fresh in Tesco and I the chap behind the counter said 1 per person was enough.
I cooked mine for about 2.5 hrs and then because we weren't ready to eat them straight away I left them on low for another 45mins or so and they were GORGEOUS!!! :P
Hope yours are nice Tim, have a nice meal!
Thanks - I'll let you know.
One certainly could not eat more than one of these but, as pointed out, they come in all sizes.
And, if I wanted to do this for 6 or 8, I'd have to borrow an Army sized cauldron!
If you are into lamb shanks, Hugh F-W 's recipe is good:
4 lamb shanks
1 carrot, diced finely
1 medium onion, diced finely
2 celery ribs, diced fine
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
2-3 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 oranges, juice and zest of, finely grated (no pith)
1 lemon, juice and zest of, finely grated (no pith)
1 tablespoon tomato paste (concentrated tomato puree)
1 1/2 cups white wine
1 cup lamb stock (or water)
salt and pepper
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1. Preheat oven to 300°F.
2. In a suitable casserole dish, sweat the diced vegetables in some of the olive oil without browning until tender.
3. Add the thyme, bay leaves, garlic, tomato, wine and lamb stock or water, along with most of the orange zest and juice (retain a few pinches of zest and 1 tbsp of juice).
4. Bring to the boil and lower to a gentle simmer.
5. Heat a little more olive oil in a separate pan and brown the lamb shanks on all sides, seasoning with a little salt and pepper as you go.
6. Transfer to the casserole dish and cover with its lid.
7. Transfer to the oven and cook for approx 2hours or until the meat is completely tender and coming off the bone.
8. Remove the shanks from the pan and keep warm while you finish the sauce.
9. Skim off some of the fat that is floating on it. Taste for seasoning and to assess its intensity, boil to reduce if you think it needs it.
10. Stir in the reserved juice to refresh the citrus flavour.
11. Serve one lamb shank on each warmed plate with a generous amount of sauce spooned over.
12. Sprinkle each shank with a little parsley and a pinch of the reserved zest.
The lamb shanks pictured look more like ends of leg of lamb to me than proper foreleg shanks. However, the real ones seem very hard to find these days for some reason. Here's my favourite recipe for them/ It's Moroccan influenced so good with cous-cous but also with mashed potatoes.
Lamb Shanks with Orange and Cinnamon
4 lamb shanks
45g plain flour
freshly ground black pepper
2 tbs fresh oregano, chopped
1.5 tbs safflower oil or grapeseed oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
12.5cl red wine
4 tbs orange juice
1 tbs orange rind, julienned
good pinch salt
1 bay leaf
1 cinnamon stick
300g pearl onions or small shallots, blanched in boiling water and peeled
500g carrots, cut in 5cm pieces
4tbs parsley, chopped
This works best with foreleg but can also be done with bottom ends of legs/gigots if you can’t get them. It tastes best pre-pared the day before to *** and allowed to cool so you can remove excess fat. Then you can add the vegetables for the last 30 minutes and serve with couscous and a plain green vegetable such as broccoli or green beans.
Method.
Trim visible excess fat from the lamb then shake in a plastic bag with the flour, black pepper and half the oregano. Fry the shanks in the heated oil until they have browned. Add the chopped onion, reduce the heat and cover and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add any remaining flour and seasoning from the bag and stir well then turn up the heat and add the garlic, wine, orange juice and 75cl water. Bring to the boil, scraping the pan to release any caramelised bits. Add the salt, bay leaf, cinnamon and remaining oregano then cover and re-duce the heat to a simmer gently for 1.5 to 2 hours.
*** Skim off fat from the surface and add the onions, carrots and orange rind. Simmer gently for 30 minutes. If necessary, remove the meat and veggies then quickly skim off any more visi-ble fat and reduce the sauce to your liking before returning the meat and veggies and stirring in the chopped parsley. Serve immediately.
Some good ones there.
Yes, Nigella's is very Morocanny.
What is the average weight of a shank? These were 1lb each.
'Twas delicious!
Carrots, yes - added some whole baby ones. But:
1. Can never see the point of just cover with water. The exposed bits dry out??
2. Especially as Nigella's 1-1.5 hours turned out to be 4 hours! So I added stock to cover.
3. And in the end it was too late to reduce the liquid, so we had quite a bit of gravy!
Need to take this a bit further.
1. Picture shows fat/skin left on. Too much fat in gravy & slimey skin? Even without that, you get slippery/grissly bits?
2. My point about 'almost cover with water' - how can the topmost bits possibly cook evenly? Or how,even, do you get a lid on that lot??
They look delicious Tim, not at all slimey looking.
I understand what you are saying about cooking without liquid covering them completely but I really don't think it is a problem. I must admit though I NEVER seem to have a casserole dish big enough to accommodate my stews and casseroles.
Very generous, but those in the magazine photo above have all that skin on, which I would find unappetising, & unnecessary, & at least half the joints must have been out of the liquid? Why? Difficult to get a lid on too?
Yes - our biggest is 28cm, but that only just coped with 4 shanks.
Sorry Tim, I hadn't realised that the picture was a magazine picture.
I think you'll find that they weren't cooked in that dish, I think they have used that dish JUST to photograph the shanks in, they've used artistic licence! ;)
I think that you should cook the shanks with the skin on because it gives added flavour and moisture to the dish and if you really don't like the look of them with skin on then take it off them just before serving. Personally I always love the skin as it's the best bit, fattening but tastes fab! ;D
Agree about the skin - when crisp - or cold. But NOT wobbly!
Crikey, no Tim, you're right, definitely NOT wobbly!!! ;D