Cooking with Klaus – Lamb Shanks with English Mustard

Ingredients (for 4 people)

1 lamb shank marinated in 1 bottle of dry red wine for 3 days without the skin
English mustard powder – at your local economy grocery store
White bread crumbs (made from approximately 12 pieces of toast without the crust. This needs to dry for 3 days before grinding)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon minced garlic or slice two cloves of garlic and rub it on your cutting board with salt
1 teaspoon English mustard powder
1 tablespoon water
2 carrots, sliced in one inch pieces
2 onions, diced in one inch cubes
1 small leek, cut in 1 inch pieces
1 stalk of celery, cut in 1 inch pieces
1 teaspoon of tomato paste
½ cup vegetable oil
Lamb bones would be great for putting the shank on when putting it in the oven so that it doesn’t sit in the juices. Ask a butcher to cut them in 1 inch pieces.

 

Spices for Sauce

1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 teaspoon minced garlic
½ teaspoon dried rosemary

Preparation

Prepare the lamb shanks by straining all the red wine marinade. Don’t throw away the marinade. Season the shanks with the salt, pepper and garlic.

Prepare the mustard paste by mixing 1 teaspoon mustard powder with 1 tablespoon of water. Stir until you have a smooth paste. Some mustards are prepared differently to make the paste, check your container for directions.

With a basting brush, rub the lamb with mustard paste so that it is covered completely. Press the white bread crumbs into the mustard paste. Heat your roasting pan on the stove top at medium heat. Add the oil. Put the bones into the roasting pan. Roast them until they are nice and brown. Put the vegetables on top of the bones. Let them get a little brown as well. Add tomato paste. Let this get brown as well.

Add ½ cup red wine marinade and let this simmer for 5 minutes and then add another ½ cup. When the liquid is almost gone, add two more cups of the red wine marinade. Now add salt, pepper,
rosemary and a little garlic. Put the lamb shanks on top of the bones and vegetables. Place in the oven at 160 degrees Celsius or 320 Fahrenheit for 2 hours. Make certain that there is always liquid on the bottom of the roasting pan. If you used all of the marinade, just start using water.

When the inside of the lamb reaches 145 Fahrenheit the meat will be medium rare. When it is 160 degrees it is medium. Well done is 170 degrees internally on the shank. Medium rare typically has to cook 30-35 minutes per pound.

Medium cooks 40-45 minutes per pound. Well done cooks 45-50 minutes per pound. When the lamb is done, take it out of the roasting pan and put it on a platter in the oven on low heat to remain warm.

Sauce

Put the sauce in a strainer over a large pot. Stir the vegetables and bones to get all the juices out. Once you have just liquid in the pot, taste it for flavor. Add spices as needed.
Some nice side dishes to this meat are roasted potatoes, rosemary potatoes, green beans or brussel sprouts.

Rosemary Potatoes

Ingredients for 4 people
1 day before you plan to use them, boil 5-6 very small potatoes for each person. Peel them and put them in the refrigerator overnight.

Heat a non-stick pan with a mixture of 1 teaspoon margarine and 1 teaspoon butter. Put the peeled potatoes in the pan. On low heat, let the potatoes get hot. Add salt, ground white pepper and ¼ teaspoon rosemary. Put the lid on the pan and let the potatoes soak up the flavors.

To serve, cut the lamb shank on a cutting board and cut thin slices. Put them on a warm plate.
Add your side dishes. Drizzle sauce over the lamb slices and you have a fine holiday meal!

See you next week!

If you are interested in setting up a cooking class with Klaus, he can be found on facebook at www.facebook.com/CookingWithKlaus or via email at CookingwithKlaus@web.de.

Featured Image Photo Credit: © Joe Gough / Shutterstock.com