June 2006 Archives

Stolen unashamedly from a copy of Men's Health for fear I'll loose the magazine and not be able to make it again, this recipe is amazingly tasty and well worth the waiting time!

Stats
Serves: 6
Prep Time: 15 mins
Cooking Time: 3 hours

Ingredients
3 tbsp olive oil
6 lamb shanks, trimmed
3 carrots, sliced
3 sticks celery, sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
150ml balsamic vinegar
2 bay leaves
2x410g cans cannellini beans (butter beans are better though!) drained and rinsed

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170c/gas mark 3. Heat the oil in your pot. Add the lamb shanks in batches and brown all over. Remove from the pan and set aside.


2. Put onion, carrots, celery and garlic in the pot. Add lamb, tomatoes and vinegar, and stir. Season with salt and pepper and add the bay leaves. Boil, cover and cook on hob for 5 minutes, then in the oven for 1.5 to 2 hours.


3. Remove the dish from the oven and add the beans. Cover and put back in the oven for a further 30 minutes, then serve.

This is nice spooned over pork chops before you cook it in the oven. It's probably quite nice with cheese and biscuits too, but I haven't yet tried that!

Ingredients
2 large onions
4 teaspoons crushed dried chillis
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 pint of water
1/8 pint of malt vinegar
50g butter

Method
1. Chop the onions up, one into half rings, the other into quarter rings.
2. Place them in a saucepan with everything else bar the vinegar and cover.
3. Simmer on a low heat for 30mins, add the malt vinegar, simmer for 10mins and use.

Simple, tasty, and a damn sight cheaper than the product it's based on!