What can be more mouth-watering than the delicious aroma of slowly roasting or braising Karoo lamb wafting from the kitchen?

Although I love most cuts of lamb, shank is probably my favourite, particularly when it is braised until the meat just falls off the bone, as in today’s recipe.

Lamb goes well with many things, but I particularly love the combination of red wine, garlic and fresh rosemary, a good twirl of salt and freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Just the thought of it makes my taste buds want to get up and dance….

I love entertaining with lamb shanks because you don’t have to go through the whole carving process as with a leg of lamb. Each guest gets a shank on a plate to slice and enjoy — and the dogs get four bones instead of one, so they are happy too!

To serve four shanks of lamb you need:

Ingredients

4 lamb shanks

2 tablespoons olive oil

350ml red wine

450ml chicken or vegetable stock

1 onion, peeled and coarsely chopped

2 large carrots, scraped and thickly chopped

6 cloves of garlic uncut but lightly crushed

2 sprigs of fresh rosemary

2 tablespoons flour

1 small tin of tomato puree

1 heaped teaspoon brown sugar

1/2 lemon

Heat the olive oil in a large pan and brown the lamb shanks individually, remove from pan, set aside and cover with tin foil

In the same pan fry the onion and carrots until they just start to colour, then add the garlic and rosemary and cook, stirring, for about two minutes

Add the flour and tomato puree, stir well, then add the wine and stock and stir as you bring it to the boil

Method

Heat the oven to 180 deg and in a large roasting tray place the four lamb shanks and pour the wine and herb stock over the meat

Cover with tin foil, place in oven and slowly braise it for 75 minutes

Lift the tin foil just enough to test if the meat is soft, but you will probably find it can braise for another 30-40 minutes, so cover with tin foil again and pour yourself a glass of wine while the flavours fill the kitchen

When the lamb is tender, remove roasting tray from the oven and take out the shanks and place on a platter

Place the roasting tray on a hot plate and bring the sauce to a boil, stirring well to get all the sticky bits from the bottom of the roasting tray

Strain the sauce, place the lamb shanks back into the roasting tray, pour the sauce over the meat, squeeze over the juice of half a lemon, cover and keep warm until ready to serve.

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