April 7, 2011

By Popular Demand - Lamb Shanks in Slow Cooker

When the weather gets chilly, I spend lots of time in the tasting room talking about slow cooker recipes. This is one of my favorites. It fell off the website for some reason. I'll get it back on. But, by popular demand, here is my EZ PZ recipe for lamb shanks in the Slow Cooker.

2 lamb shanks
1 c. bold red wine (like Tango)
1 c. chicken broth
1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes with juice
2 3" sprigs of fresh rosemary
1 large onion, peeled and diced (largish chunks)
2 carrots, peeled and diced (largish chunks)
4-6 cloves of garlic peeled and sliced thinly (slicing/slivering is better than chopping for this recipe)
1 t. worchestershire sauce
Juice and zest of 1 medium to small lemon
Salt and pepper to taste

Add the wine, broth, tomatoes, onion, carrot and garlic to a large (at least 5 qt) crock pot. Strip the rosemary leaves off one of the sprigs and chop roughly. Add to broth mixture. Add salt and pepper - at least 1/4 t. of each. "Bury" the lamb shanks in the broth/wine mixture - so they are partially covered. I usually end up having to cross the shanks like a skull and cross bones to make them fit. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6+ hours (or until you get home from work). When you get home from work, start the polenta. Once the Polenta is started, add the zest and juice of the lemon, the worchestershire and the roughly minced leaves from the other sprig of rosemary to the slow cooker. Turn the slow cooker to warm (if it has this setting or leave it on low if it doesn't) and let shanks continue to simmer until polenta is done. Taste juice/sauce in crock pot and adjust salt/pepper if needed. Serve the shank to the side of your plate with a big dollop of polenta topped with the sauce/juice from the crock pot on the other side. YYYYUUUUMMMMM.

You can use any polenta - but I really like the baked polenta recipe that is on the website (yes, I double checked it is still there under sauces/sides page 2). It comes out creamy and it doesn't require you to stand there for 15 minutes stirring.

Enjoy!