Main Ingredients:

See below ingredients and instructions of the recipe

Cooking Preparation of the Recipe:

6 Lamb shanks 2 Celery ribs
-(3/4 to 1 lb ea) -cut crosswise in 2" pieces
-trimmed of excess 4 Garlic cloves; minced
-fat and fell 2 tb Tomato paste
Salt 1 tb Herbes de Provence
1 tb Canola oil 2 c Dry red wine
2 md Onions, sliced thick 3 c Chicken stock
3 md Carrots; peeled Ground black pepper
-cut crosswise in 2" pieces

1. Heat oven to 350ø. Sprinkle shanks with salt. Heat oil in large,
nonreactive saut? pan over medium-high heat. Add shanks to pan in
batches if necessary to avoid overcrowding. Saut? until browned on
all sides, 5 to 7 minutes. Using tongs, transfer shanks to a plate as
they brown.

2. Drain all but 2 tablespoons of fat from the pan; add onions,
carrots, celery, garlic, tomato paste, 1 teaspoon of herbes de
Provence, and a light sprinkling of salt; saut? vegetables to soften
slightly, 3 to 4 minutes. Add red wine, then chicken stock to pan,
stirring with wooden spoon to loosen browned bits from bottom. Bring
liquid to simmer; transfer vegetables and liquid into deep braising
pan large enough to hold shanks in a single layer. Add shanks, season
with salt, pepper and remaining 2 teaspoons herbes de Provence.

3. Cover pan (with foil if pan has no lid) and transfer it to the
oven; braise shanks for 1 1/2 hours. Uncover and continue braising
until shank tops are browned, about 30 minutes. Turn shanks and
braise until other side is browned and shanks are fall-off-the-bone
tender.

4. Remove pan from oven; let shanks rest for at least 15 minutes. With
tongs, carefully transfer a shank to each of 6 plates. Arrange a
portion of vegetables around each shank. Skim excess fat from
braising liquid and adjust seasoning. Spoon braising liquid over each
shank and serve.

Note: if you don't have herbes de Provence, substitute a mixture of 1
tsp each dried thyme, rosemary and marjoram. If you're using smaller
lamb shanks than the ones in this recipe, reduce the cooking time to
1 hour.

Variation for Braised lamb Shanks with Lemon and Mint: Make the
following changes: to the braising liquid add 1 lemon, quartered with
zest removed, minced and set aside. Substitute 1 tablespoon minced
fresh mint leaves for the herbs de Provence and substitute dry white
wine for the dry red wine. After skimming excess fat from the
braising liquid, stir in lemon zest and 1 additional tablespoon
minced fresh mint leaves.

Variation for Braised Lamb Shanks with North African Spices: Make the
following changes: Substitute 2 tablespoons ras al hanout for herbes
de Provence. Add 2 ancho chili peppers (or 2 to 3 jalape¤os),
stemmed, seeded and minced, to the saut?ing vegetables.

Cook's Illustrated January/February 1995
Submitted By DIANE LAZARUS On 12-21-94

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