#7: Twice-roasted lamb shanks with mint mash and carrots

This dish, I'll be honest, was a dual-effort. I love cooking with my husband - glass of wine in hand, sharing the details of our respective days. We don't do it as often as either of us would like: football practice, work and social commitments get in the way. But when we do get together in the kitchen, I relish it. 

This is a much simpler dish than the convoluted name implies. For people who work all day, the concept of slow cooked meat is a little abstract - it's just simply not possible! (Edit: as Annika points out below, it is possible with a slow cooker, but we've currently not got one of these.... maybe that needs to be an upcoming purchase) We got around this by roasting the lamb on a low heat for a number of hours on the Tuesday night before cooking it again on the Wednesday night - slow roasted meat on a working person's schedule.

serves 2


2 lamb shanks
1 onion
A few sprigs of rosemary
6 cloves garlic
Half a bottle of red wine
3-4 medium potatoes
4 carrots
Sprig of mint
Knob of butter

DAY ONE:

1. Slice onions into rings and place these, with the cloves of garlic, in the bottom of a heavy casserole or roasting dish (ideally with a lid, otherwise use foil).
2. Place the shanks on top, pour in half a bottle of wine, some large sprigs of rosemary, and some cracked pepper.
3. Roast on a low heat (around 100^oC) for three or four hours. Keep the meat, onion and gravy mix in the dish overnight.

DAY TWO:

1. Put the meat back in the oven at 150^oC for 1½ hours, then put the heat up to 180-200^oC for the final 30-40 minutes.
2. At this point, you should:
• put the potatoes on to boil - they should boil for 20-30 minutes, until a blunt knife slides into the flesh easily. For this meal, we didn't peel the potatoes first, making a mash with a bit of rustic appeal.
• put the carrots (similarly with the skins and tips still on) in the oven to roast for 30 minutes, doused in olive oil and plenty of black pepper.
3. Remove the meat from the oven and let it sit for a few minutes while you make the mash.
4. When the potatoes are ready, drain them and mash them with diced mint and butter. If the mash is dry, scoop some gravy from the meat dish in to moisten it.
5. Serve the meat up with the rosemary and the soft onion/gravy mix. Remove the carrots from the oven and serve them up with the mash.

I recommend this with a hearty red wine. We went for a Willoughby Park Cabernet Sauvignon, one of my favourite bottles from one of my favourite vineyards here in Western Australia.