Braised Lamb Shanks with Cheesy Polenta
Slowly cooked in a rich and delicious sauce until fall-off-the-bone tender, these red wine Braised Lamb Shanks are Holiday comfort food at its finest.
Servings: 4 servings
Ingredients
For the Braised Lamb Shanks:
- 4 lamb shanks
- Kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil
- 2 carrots diced
- 2 celery ribs diced
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 5 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 cup red wine optional
- 14 ounces crushed tomatoes
- 16 ounces beef bone broth substitute beef broth
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ teaspoon freshly-cracked black pepper
- 1 tablespoon grass-fed butter
For the Cheesy Polenta:
- 5 cups water
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup medium-ground cornmeal
- ¼ cup grass-fed butter
- 7 ounces Kerrygold Dubliner cheese coarsely grated
Instructions
For the Braised Lamb Shanks:
- Rinse the lamb shanks under cold water and pat them dry with paper towel. Season all sides of the shanks generously with salt and place them onto a sheet pan lined with a wire rack. Refrigerate the shanks for 6 hours to overnight for best results, or 1 hour if in a rush
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Heat a Dutch oven or oven-safe pot over medium heat. Add the avocado oil and heat it until shimmering. Pat the lamb shanks dry with paper towel and carefully add them to the pan. If necessary, do this in batches to avoid overcrowding the pan. Cook the shanks, undisturbed, until browned on one side, around 6 minutes. Flip and cook the other sides until browned, around 6 more minutes. Transfer the shanks to a tray and set aside.
- Lower the heat to medium and add the carrot, celery and onion. Season with a pinch of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables have slightly softened, around 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 60 seconds. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring to incorporate, 2 minutes. Add the wine, if using, and cook, stirring, until reduced in volume by half. Add the crushed tomatoes, beef broth, rosemary, thyme, bay leaves and black pepper, raise the heat to medium-high, and cook, until the liquid reaches a simmer. Nestle the browned lamb shanks in the sauce. If necessary, add more broth until the meat is almost fully submerged. Cover the pot with a lid and transfer it to the oven. Cook until the meat is very tender and falling off the bone, around 2.5 hours. If the meat is still not tender after 2.5 hours, continue cooking and checking on it every 30 minutes.
- Transfer the lamb shanks to a tray. Pour the liquid and vegetables through a fine mesh sieve set over a bowl and press out as much of the liquid as possible from the vegetables. Pour the liquid back into the braising pot and place it over medium heat. Bring the liquid to a simmer and cook, stirring, until the liquid can coat the back of a spoon (cooking times vary depending on the amount of liquid). Add the butter and vigorously stir it through to incorporate. Taste the sauce for seasoning and adjust with salt and pepper as desired. Return the lamb shanks to the pot and baste with the sauce until reheated.
- To serve, spoon the cheesy polenta into individual bowls. Top with the lamb shanks and spoon the sauce overtop. Garnish with sprigs of fresh rosemary and enjoy.
For the Cheesy Polenta:
- Add the water to a sauce pan and bring to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, season the water with salt and lower the heat to low. While continuously whisking, slowly pour in the cornmeal. Continue whisking until everything is incorporated. Cover the pot with a lid and cook, stirring regularly with a spatula, until cooked through and creamy in texture, around 15 minutes. If the polenta is too thick, loosen it with a splash of water. If the polenta is too loose, continue cooking it with the lid off until it thickens.
- Add the butter and stir it through to combine. Add the Dubliner cheese and stir it through to combine. Taste the polenta for seasoning and adjust with salt as desired.
- Serve the polenta immediately with the braised lamb shanks.