Braised Lamb Shanks

Recipe from Chef Scott Cohen, Pavil, San Antonio

Lamb Shanks

4 lamb shanks
6 tinned anchovies, cut into halves
12 small rosemary sprigs
12 slivers garlic
salt and freshly ground black pepper
55 grams (2 ounces) duck fat, butter, or dripping
2 carrots, roughly chopped
2 sticks celery, roughly chopped
1 leek, roughly chopped
2 onions, roughly chopped
1 head garlic, broken up into cloves
1 sprig thyme
1 sprig rosemary
1 bay leaf
1/2 bottle red wine
600 milliliters (1 pint) chicken, lamb stock, or water

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Remove majority of fat from lamb shanks. Make three deep incisions in each shank and insert into each half an anchovy wrapped around a sprig of rosemary and a slice of garlic. Season meat with salt and freshly ground black pepper. You will not need too much salt as the anchovies are very salty.

Heat a little duck fat, butter, or dripping in a casserole dish, add the shanks, and brown all over. Remove and set aside. To the casserole, add carrots, celery, leek, onions, garlic cloves, and herbs, and cook over high heat until vegetables are browned. Deglaze casserole by adding red wine, scraping the residue on the bottom of the pan, and stirring well. Add stock or water to casserole, place shanks on top of vegetables, cover, and cook in oven for 2 1/2 hours. When lamb has finished cooking, remove four shanks to a dish, and keep warm. Pass vegetables and cooking liquor through a mouli, or blend in a food processor, and set to one side.

Sauce

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
115 grams (4 ounces) streaky bacon lardons, blanched
1 carrot, finely diced
1 stick celery, finely diced
1 onion, finely diced
6 cloves garlic, peeled
2 sprigs thyme
2 sprigs rosemary, chopped
4 tomatoes, seeded and diced
2 thirteen-ounce (375-gram) tins flageolet beans, drained and rinsed

Heat oil in a large pan over medium to high heat. Add bacon and fry until browned. Reduce heat and add carrot, celery, onion, and garlic. Cook for 8 minutes, or until vegetables have softened, then add thyme, rosemary, tomatoes, and flageolet beans. Heat through. Pass blended lamb cooking liquor and vegetables through a strainer or fine sieve onto the bean mixture, stir together, and pour over lamb shanks.