Lamb Shank to Serve 4

Preparation time 15mins.

Cooking time 3 1/2 hours, but allow 4....

• 4 lamb shanks
• 2 large onions
• 2 carrots
• 3 celery sticks
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 large glass red wine
• Sunday gravy (or Bisto)
• 50 ml vegetable oil
• Salt & pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 180°c gas mark 4

Peel and roughly chop all vegetables and finely slice the garlic cloves

and set to one side.

Pour some Rapeseed or vegetable oil into a heavy-based oven dish and heat until very hot.

Now carefully add the shanks to the fat and brown them on all sides before removing once browned,  and placing them in a separate dish for a moment..

Pour any excess oil away and add the vegetables and garlic to the heat.

Stir these too until they start to colour. Once they begin to brown add them to the separate dish with the shanks for a moment.

Now, poor the red wine in to the hot dish and using a wooden spoon, stir  until it turns richly brown colour.

Once the wine begins to boil, remove it from the heat and add back the shanks with all its juices and vegetables.

Nearly done, just warm up the gravy slightly in a separate pot, and pour it all over the shanks & vegetables then cover with a lid or double tin foil.

Place the dish in the middle shelf of the pre-heated oven for 1½ hrs.,

then reduce heat to 160°c for a further 2 hrs.

Remove from the oven and check seasoning and if sauce seems too

thick, if so add freshly-boiled water to thin it to your liking and season to taste.

Check the Shanks by way of using a fork to pull at the meat gently. So long as the meat comes from the bone with ease, its done, if not, give it another half hour. But this should not be necessary.

Serve immediately with creamy mashed potatoes.