Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks with Red Wine Gravy

5 from 4 votes

Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks with Red Wine Gravy

Quick prep but a long slow cook means these Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks are meltingly tender but packed full of flavour and the Red Wine Gravy is out of this world! Delicious served with wodges of creamy mashed potatoes and lots of green vegetables. (Cooking instructions given for both conventional oven and slow cooker / crock pot)

Course Main Course

Cuisine British, French, Fusion

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 2 hours

Total Time 2 hours 20 minutes

Servings people

Calories 445kcal

Author Eb Gargano

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
4 small lamb shanks (or 2 larger ones)
12 small shallots peeled (or 1 onion, sliced)
300 g baby carrots left whole (or normal carrots, cut into big chunks)
2 sticks of celery cut into big chunks
200 ml red wine
600 ml strong lamb or beef stock (I used 2 Kallo beef stock cubes)
8 whole garlic cloves peeled
2 sprigs rosemary (see note 1)
2 sprigs thyme (see note 1)
2 dried bay leaves (see note 1)
1 tablespoon cornflour (optional – see note 2)

To serve

Mashed potatoes (or new potatoes, or roast potatoes, or crusty bread)
Green vegetables (such as broccoli, green beans and dark green cabbage or greens)

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Instructions for cooking Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks in the oven

Pre-heat your oven to 160C / 140C fan / gas mark 3 / 325F.
Lightly season the lamb shanks with salt and pepper.
Heat up 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large frying pan (preferably non-stick) over a high heat. Sear 2 of the lamb shanks for 2 minutes on each side. Repeat with the other 2 lamb shanks and place all 4 lamb shanks in an oven-proof dish.
Lightly fry the shallots, baby carrots and celery in the same pan for 1 minute on a high heat – just to give the vegetables some colour, then tip the veggies into the oven-proof dish on top of the lamb.
Pour the wine into the frying pan and allow to bubble over a high heat for 1 minute. Add the stock and bring back to the boil. Pour this red wine / stock mix into the oven-proof dish on top of the lamb and veggies.
Add the whole garlic cloves and herbs to the pot and push down to submerge them in the liquid.
Put a lid (or foil) on the oven-proof dish and place in the pre-heated oven for 2 hours.
[Optional step, if you prefer a thicker gravy] When the lamb is done, take the dish out of the oven and remove the lamb. Pour the gravy and vegetables into a saucepan and place on the hob, on a medium heat. Mix together the cornflour and a very small amount of cold water, to make a paste that is the consistency of double (heavy) cream. Pour the cornflour mixture into the gravy and continue cooking until the gravy has thickened.
Serve the lamb with mashed potatoes and green vegetables (or your choice of side dishes) and pour / spoon the gravy over the top.

Instructions for cooking Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks in a slow cooker

Follow the recipe exactly as it is written above. However, instead of placing the lamb, vegetables and liquid in an oven-proof dish, put them in your slow cooker / crock pot.
Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours.

Video

Notes

Alternatively use 2 teaspoons of mixed herbs.
You only need the cornflour if you want to thicken the gravy at the end. Depending on how thick you like your gravy, you might need 1 or 2 tablespoons of cornflour. (If you prefer, you can use regular flour instead of cornflour.)
Suitable for freezing.
Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.

Nutrition