Wholesome Cook
Birthday + Entertaining

Lamb Shanks with Parmesan Mash

Slow-cooked Lamb Shanks are a classic comfort food, served with a parmesan mash they are even more delicious. 

Slow cooked lamb shanksThere is nothing more satisfying on a cold wintry evening than rich, slow cooked food. Since the weather has been playing tricks on us the past couple of days, it was time pull out the stock pot (that doubles as my casserole) and get cooking. On the menu: lamb shanks with parmesan mash.

I was going to sit them on a polenta mash, but the previously mentioned “chip connoisseur” around here prefers potato, so potato it is. Once cooked, the meat simply falls off the bone, so if you wish you can discard the bones and serve more like you would a ragù. In that form it goes well with pasta or rice as well.

Kids love it too, to quote “if we didn’t like it there would be some left on the plate”. It’s the quickest I’ve seen them eat their dinner in a while.

Serves 4    Cooking time: 2 hours

Lamb shanks with parmesan mash

  • 2 lamb shanks, chopped in half
  • 1 tbsp oil // butter for frying
  • 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
  • plain flour for dusting (omit if allergic to wheat or gluten)
  • 6 cups of water
  • 2 celery sticks
  • 1 carrot, chopped roughly
  • 1 onion, cut into wedges
  • 2 bay leaves
  • pinch of salt
  • 1/2 jar tomato and wine pasta sauce
  • 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
  • 500g potatoes, peeled and quartered
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup parmesan, grated finely
  • sour cream to serve
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • parsley

Place carrot, celery, onion, bay leaves and pinch of salt in a large stock pot. Cover with water and bring to the boil.

Dust lamb shanks with some flour (omit this step if allergic to gluten or wheat). Heat oil // butter in a medium pan and add thyme. Brown shanks for about 2 minutes on each side. Place shanks in the stock pot, reduce heat to medium and cover. Simmer for 1 hour.

Add pasta sauce and garlic to the pot and simmer for another hour. By this stage the sauce would have reduced by half so stir it occasionally to prevent the meat from sticking to the bottom of the pot.

With about 20 minutes to go, boil the potatoes. When soft, drain, add milk and parmesan and mash well.

Serve shanks on or off the bone on a bed of parmesan mash. Top with 1 tsp of sour cream, parsley and freshly ground black pepper.

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