Lamb stew made with lamb shanks, parsnips, carrots, rutabagas, and turnips.
These days when I step outside, I just want to turn around and go back in the house. Sacramento makes up for its blazingly hot summers with foggy, gloomy, dark, dismal, chilly winters, perfect weather, come to think of it, for hearty lamb stews such as this one.
Root vegetables rule the season, sweet carrots and parsnips, turnips, and the happily named rutabaga. (Rutabaga. Rutabaga. Sounds like it could be the name of a latin dance, doesn’t it?) This stew is loaded with flavor.
Don’t forget the gremolata (parsley, lemon zest, garlic garnish which I forgot to photograph in the stew); it gives the stew a great zip. For those of you lamb-non-eaters, if you try it with beef (use chuck), let us know how it goes. I imagine it will be just as good.
Lamb Shank Stew with Root Vegetables Recipe
- Prep time: 20 minutes
- Cook time: 3 hours, 30 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 3 pounds of lamb shanks, each shank cut into a couple of pieces
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 6 garlic cloves, unpeeled
- 2 celery ribs, coarsely chopped
- 4 carrots, 2 coarsely chopped, 2 cut into 2-inch segments, and quartered lengthwise
- 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
- 1/2 cup tomato paste
- 1 cup dry red wine
- 3 cups chicken stock
- Two 1×3-inch strips of orange zest
- 1 medium rutabaga, roughly chopped (1 1/2 inch pieces)
- 1 medium turnip, roughly sliced or chopped (1 inch pieces)
- 2 parsnips, chopped
Gremolata
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
- 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
Method
1 Brown the lamb shanks: Heat 2 Tbsp of olive oil in a large Dutch oven on medium high heat.
Season the lamb shanks with salt and pepper, add them to the casserole and brown well on all sides, working in batches if necessary. Transfer the shanks to a plate.
2 Add garlic, celery, carrots, onion: Add the unpeeled garlic cloves, celery, chopped carrots (half of your carrots, the other half are cut lengthwise to be used later in the recipe) and onion to the pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 10 minutes.
3 Add tomato paste, wine: Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, about 2 minutes. Add the wine; boil over high heat until the liquid is very syrupy, about 5 minutes.
4 Return shanks to pan, add stock, zest, then simmer: Return the shanks to the pot and add the stock and orange zest. Bring to a simmer. Cover the pan, reduce the heat to low, and braise the shank for 3 hours, or until the meat is falling off the bone tender; turn the shanks from time to time as they cook.
5 Roast root vegetables: Preheat oven to 350°F. Put the root vegetables (turnip, rutabaga, parsnips, and lengthwise-cut carrots) in a large baking pan and toss with enough olive oil to coat. Season with salt and pepper and bake in the oven for about an hour, or until tender.
6 Make gremolata: In a small bowl, mix the minced garlic with the parsley and lemon zest (the « gremolata »). Set aside.
7 Strain sauce: Remove the shanks from the pot and transfer to a plate. Pass the sauce through a coarse strainer, pressing hard on the vegetables. Discard the vegetable pulp. Skim the fat from the surface of the sauce.
8 Combine sauce, lamb meat, root vegetables: Return the sauce to the pan, season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil over moderately high heat. Separate the lamb meat from the bones. Add the lamb meat and root vegetables; simmer just until warmed through.
Garnish with the gremolata and serve.
