As has become a regular occurrence we are both a little worse for wear today after a fab night out in Brighton. It’s become such a regularity that I had the foresight to take some lamb shanks out of the freezer yesterday.

I picked these up from the meat counter at sainsburies on special last month and have been waiting till we had a guest to lunch but I thought they would be just what we needed today and I was soooo right!!

Is lunch is very low impact which is just what I needed and having the gorgeous mash alongside it makes it comforting but even easier to create as it really does become a couple of pots wonder!!

My Luscious Lamb Shanks

Ingredients
One lamb shank each
Olive oil
Garlic
2 carrots
2 sticks celery
1 red onion
Rosemary & thyme
2 bay leaves
Salt n pepper
Glass of port
Chicken stock
Gravy powder
Potatoes for mash and Green veg to steam (we had beans and broccoli)

Method
Turn the oven on to gas mark 3
Heat the oil with a little garlic paste in a cast iron casserole and brown the shanks
Chop the carrots, celery and onions roughly then take the shanks out to rest whilst you soften the veggies.
Add the shanks back in, with the port, herbs, salt & pepper and enough stock to cover it all
Cover and whack in the oven for 2 1/2 hours
(whilst this on I sit in front of the telly & prep the spuds and green veg)
Take the pot out of the oven and remove the shanks & veggies & wrap in foil to rest
Meanwhile turn the potatoes and green veg on (steam veggies over the potatoes in a steamer or colander)
Put the stock over a heat and add in some bisto or granules to thicken the gravy
When the potatoes are ready mash them (great method elsewhere on the blog)
Serve one shank each in a shallow bowl with mash and green veggies drowne in the gravy

The result was melt in the mouth- the lamb fell off the bone and worked really well with the soft casserole veggies and fluffy mash. This was offset with the al dente green veg all smothered in gravy

Flabulous!!!