Braised Lamb Shanks

This is a dish my family really loves. We love it enough that I made some version of it for my wedding reception (yes, I catered my own wedding)! I make this a little bit differently every time, both because I generally don’t measure when I do make it and because I sometimes change some of the supplementary seasonings. That said, this is super customizable, and if you don’t like the spice profile I use it’s totally okay to swap it out to something you do like! Ditto the veggies, or whatever - make it your own!

The directions for this will be done mostly in pictures so you can see how this works in practice. For people who find lamb too gamey, it can be washed in vinegar or soaked in milk to remove some of that feature!

One quick note: the day I made this, it was really chaotic in the house due to Child Tester having a teacher change in her remote class. I’m telling you this because you need to know that this goes with rice, and I plumb forgot to make it! Make some rice, if you like rice. It’s lovely! Alternate options include bulghur wheat, couscous, freekeh, and whole wheat!

Here’s what you’ll need

3 sprigs of dill (around 1 teaspoon or so dried)

1 teaspoon dried mint (you can use a around a tablespoon or so of fresh if you prefer)

large pinch of saffron, lightly ground (alternately: 1/2 teaspoon powdered turmeric)

a bay leaf or two (I often will put 3-4 in there)

about a cup of broth or stock of some kind, beer, or water (I used some lamb stock I had in the freezer, but I would’ve used chicken broth or beer otherwise)

lamb shanks - in general you’ll want 1 per person, plus an extra or two for sandwiches with leftovers!

a tablespoon or so of ras el hanout (you can make it yourself, too!

salt; this is probably a tablespoon total in here, because it’s the only time I’m salting; use how much you want

3 stalks of celery, cut into 1”-ish pieces, leaves included

around half a pound of baby carrots, or cut up a couple of carrots

frond and stem of a fennel bulb

1 parsnip, cut in half and then into chunks

most of the green parts of 2 leeks, washed and cut into chunks

1 peeled turnip, cut into chunks

a handful of frozen green beans? Yeah literally I found these in my freezer which is why they’re in there. I’ve never used green beans before. I am basically telling you to go on ahead and use this as a fridge and freezer cleaning exercise so you can use up stuff you don’t want or that’s about to go bad!

2 whole tomatoes (really, I just use about 1 for every 2 servings, but you can modify it)

1 8-ounce can of tomato sauce

more salt and ras el hanout

Put all of the first group of ingredients in your dutch oven. Just chuck ‘em on in there - they won’t care! This is a 6-quart DO, but I normally do this in a roasting pan or deep casserole dish.

Generously salt one side and then coat with ras el hanout. Let it hang out for about an hour exposed like this one you have seasoned it.

Seriously, y’all. Go heavier on the salt than you normally would. The meat is the only thing that’s getting salted, and this is a big ol’ pot of yums.

I usually use potatoes instead of turnips, but I didn’t have any potatoes and I did have a turnip. This was really lovely, because the long braise mellowed the turnips out quite a bit, and they soaked up a ton of the saffron as well.

You’re making a bed for your lamb right now. Put the root veg in first (I put all the turnip on the bottom), then your more delicate stuff like the celery and leek tops.

These tomatoes were actually frozen when I stuck them in there. I’ve been in this wonderful cycle lately of tossing whole tomatoes in the freezer if I realize I’m not going to use them before they go bad. I then just grab however many tomatoes I need from the freezer and put them in whatever. They thaw, then cook, and they’re great for stuff like this or to make fresh tomato sauces. The sauces are super easy because I just add them and maybe some water, heat slowly, and mash the tomatoes up with the back of the spoon when they’re thawed in the pot or wherever. Cuts down on the number of canned tomatoes I need, too!

Anyway, put your can of tomato sauce on the veggies, then nestle in the lamb with the spiced-side down. Nestle the tomatoes in somewhere.

Good sprinkle of salt on the unspiced side of the lamb, then sprinkle on a bit more of the ras el hanout. You don’t need the same coverage, since the other side is densely spiced.

After this goes in, it’s up to you if you want to cover it or not. I generally cover for half of the time, then uncover for the rest. I do this in a 300F/150C/GM2 oven for 3 hours. This is actually why I was able to cater the wedding so easily, because we tossed the lamb in the oven, went and got married, came back, took it out, finished setting up the reception, and then onto the fun! Whatever you decide, it really is okay to do the braise uncovered because the vegetables release a lot of fluid that can’t evaporate as well because the lamb is in its way.

No matter what you decide about the cover, you do really need to flip that lamb over halfway through the braising process. Flip, cover/uncover/whatever, 1.5 more hours.

Yeah this is done. You can see the lamb has pulled away from the bone nicely, there’s some amazing stock down at the bottom, and the veggies look perfect. You really want your veggies to be soft but to still have texture. We’re not looking for mush here, which is why we put the root veg all the way at the bottom. There’s around 3 cups of amazing oven broth nestled around all your root veg. Don’t forget to save that for other yummy things like risotto or couscous later!

Needed the rice, see? It’s okay, though. We had plenty of flatbread and hummus to make up for my failure to rice appropriately!