Braised Lamb Shanks

Photo: flickr user quinn.anya

Ingredients

1 cup beef stock

1 handf dried porcini mushroom

6 lamb, shank

salt, to taste

pepper, to taste

6 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups good red wine

2 celery, stalks, diced

1 medium onion, peeled, and, diced

6 clv garlic, peeled, and, crushed

2 rosemary, stalks

4 thyme, stalks

Preparation

Preheat your oven to 325F

Nuke the beef stock for 3 minutes to get it nice and hot. Add the dried mushrooms to the hot stock and cover with plastic wrap to push the mushrooms down into the stock. Let sit to steep for at least 30 minutes Add half the olive oil to a large skillet over a medium high heat till the oil is hot but not smoking

Season the shanks with salt and pepper. Add three of the shanks to the skillet and brown on all sides, for a total of about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the browned shanks to a large oven-proof casserole dish along with carrots, onion, celery, garlic, rosemary and thyme Pour off the oil without cleaning the bottom of the pan. Add the rest of the oil to the same skillet and repeat the process for the next 3 shanks Once all the shanks are in the casserole dish, deglaze the skillet with 1/2 cup of the red wine

Add the remaining wine to the casserole along with the stock and the mushrooms Cover tightly and cook in the middle of the oven for at least 3 hours, or until the meat fairly falls away from the bone at the touch of a fork

Remove the shanks from the casserole and set aside under tin foil

Strain the liquid from the casserole dish into a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over a high heat. Reduce heat to medium until the sauce reduces by half. Season with salt and pepper and serve with the lamb