Even May can have nights to make you believe winter will never end. In the Catskills, you can still have a chilly or even freezing night. Suzen and I never plant our herb garden until after Memorial Day. We have planted sooner and we have learned our lesson.
On nights like this, you can long for a meal that is comfort food at the extreme: meaty, hearty, and guaranteed to warm you to the soul. Here’s just such a recipe: slow cook lamb shanks prepared with lentils, bacon, stock and wine. It’s a meal unto itself, although you can add a salad if you desire, or even accompany with mashed potatoes.
It’s a hearty dish, cooked for 2 ½ hours. So open a second bottle of red wine and linger around the table savoring both the aroma and the flavor. The meat will be falling off the bone, soft to the fork, perfect to the mouth. If it is snowing, you won’t care. There's still time to plant those herbs and summer, however short, will ultimately come.
This recipe and photo come from the lovely Fireside Feasts & Snow Day Treats by Ryland Peters & Small. I’ve had several posts from this book and I suggest you find a copy for yourself so you can enjoy all the wonderful dishes presented inside its covers.
Slow-Cooked Lamb Shanks with Lentils
Yield: serves 4
Ingredients and Equipment:
- ⅔ cup dried green lentils
- 3 ½ ounces pancetta or streaky bacon, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- One 14-ounce can chopped tomatoes
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 cup red wine
- 4 trimmed lamb shanks
- A handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, roughly chopped
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- A large casserole dish or other lidded baking dish
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 325°F.
Put the lentils, pancetta, garlic, tomatoes, stock and wine in a large casserole dish and season well with salt and pepper. Stir well to combine. Add the lamb shanks and cover with a tight-fitting lid.
Cook in the preheated oven for 1 ½ hours. Remove the casserole dish from the oven and turn the lamb shanks over. Re-cover, return to the oven and cook for 1 hour more, until the lamb is tender. Stir in the parsley. Serve one shank per person with a generous portion of the lentils.
Source: Fireside Feasts & Snow Day Treats by Ryland Peters & Small
Photo Credit: Ryland Peters & Small