Hairy Bikers Lamb Shanks Recipe

This Hairy Bikers lamb shanks recipe from Meat Feasts braises whole shanks with flageolet beans, white wine and smoked paprika. And it serves four in about three and a half hours at around 750 calories, since the beans soak up the stock and make it a full meal.

Each person gets their own whole shank in the pot, which makes this feel special even though it is one of the cheaper cuts. And the diced anchovies in the base build a savoury depth that nobody can taste as fish.

Do not add the tomatoes at the start or the beans will never soften properly. The acid toughens bean skins, so the first ninety minutes needs plain stock only, and the tomatoes go in halfway.

Hairy Bikers Lamb Shanks Recipe

Author: Alex Saidani Cooking Method:Braising Cuisine:British French Courses:Main Course

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 20 minutesCook time:3 hours Rest time: minutesTotal time:3 hours 20 minutesServings:4 servingsCalories:750 kcal Best Season:Summer

Description

Si and Dave’s lamb shanks from Meat Feasts where whole shanks braise low and slow with flageolet beans, fennel, smoked paprika and white wine until the meat falls off the bone and the beans have soaked up every drop of stock.

Ingredients

For the Lamb Shanks:

• 300g dried flageolet beans, soaked in water overnight
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 4 lamb shanks
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 carrots, finely chopped
• 1 fennel bulb, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• A few sprigs of thyme
• 1 red chilli, finely chopped
• 1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 small tin of anchovies, drained and diced
• 250ml white wine
• 1 litre lamb or chicken stock or water
• 4 ripe tomatoes, peeled and deseeded
• Finely chopped parsley, to garnish
• Sea salt flakes
• Freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Prep the beans: Put the soaked flageolet beans in a large saucepan, cover with fresh water and bring to the boil. Cook for ten minutes, then take off the heat and leave in the water until you need them.
2. Brown the shanks: Heat the oil in a large flameproof casserole dish and brown the lamb shanks on all sides until deeply golden, then set them aside. This takes a few minutes per side so do not rush it.
3. Build the base: Add the onion, carrots and fennel to the dish and cook over a medium heat for about ten minutes until browning at the edges. Then stir in the garlic, thyme, chilli, smoked paprika and bay leaf, followed by the tomato puree and diced anchovies. Pour in the white wine, bring to the boil and let it reduce by half.
4. Braise: Preheat the oven to 170°C/Fan 150°C/Gas 3. Put the shanks back in the dish, drain the beans and add them too, then pour over the stock. Bring to the boil, cover with a lid and place in the oven for one and a half hours.
5. Add tomatoes and finish: After ninety minutes, add the peeled tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Cover again and cook for another one to one and a half hours until the beans and lamb are very tender and the meat has shrunk well back from the bone. If the sauce needs thickening, boil it on the hob for a few minutes. Scatter with parsley before serving.

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FAQs

Do I really need to soak the beans overnight?

Ideally yes, because soaked beans cook evenly and hold their shape in the long braise. But there is a shortcut in the recipe: boil them unsoaked for five minutes, then leave to stand for an hour, and that gives a similar result if you forgot the night before.

Tinned flageolet beans work too if you are really short on time. Add them for the last hour of cooking instead of the full three, since they are already soft and just need to absorb the stock rather than cook through from scratch.

Can I make lamb shanks in a slow cooker?

Brown the shanks and build the base on the hob first, because that browning is where the deep flavour comes from. Then transfer everything to the slow cooker with the drained beans and stock, and cook on low for seven to eight hours.

Keep the tomatoes out until the last two hours so the acid does not toughen the bean skins during the long cook. And if the sauce is too thin at the end, pour it into a pan and reduce on the hob for ten minutes before pouring it back over.

What can I use instead of flageolet beans?

Cannellini beans are the closest swap because they have a similar creamy texture and mild flavour. Butter beans work too but they are larger and break down more, which gives you a thicker starchier sauce instead of distinct beans sitting in the braise.

Flageolets were chosen here because they “have a fine flavour” and hold their shape after three hours in the oven. If you use tinned beans of any type, add them for the last hour only so they do not turn to mush.

How do I know when the shanks are done?

The meat should have shrunk well back from the bone, with a good centimetre of bare bone showing at the end of each shank. Pull it with a fork and it should come away with almost no resistance.

If the meat still clings tight after three hours, give it another 30 minutes with the lid on. Shanks are forgiving and the extra time will not dry them out because the beans and stock keep everything moist. Under-cooking is the only real risk here.

What goes well with lamb shanks?

The beans make this a complete meal on its own, so you do not need a starch on the side. If you want something fresh after the rich braise, the Caesar salad works well as a follow-up since the anchovy dressing echoes the anchovies already in the lamb.

Any leftover shank meat shreds beautifully off the bone once cooled, and it works straight into the leftover lamb shepherd’s pie without any extra browning. For another way to cook shanks, the Food Tour of Britain series on Saturday Kitchen has a lamb and barley hotpot that swaps the beans for pearl barley with mint jelly and swede.