Lamb Shanks & White Beans

[RonC]

Friends,

We love slow cooked lamb shanks and white beans from our favorite French restaurant. We found some good looking shanks today and now nead a great recipe to do in our Dutch Oven. We especially like the yummy flavorable beans. Looking forward to your sharing.

Thanks,

Sidecar Ron

[carswell]

I've had great success adapting a Macella Hazan recipe (in Marcella's Italian Kitchen if I'm not mistaken). The original recipe calls for lamb shoulder.

The portions are for about 4 lbs. of shanks. Trim them of all fat, dredge lightly in flour and brown in a skillet in hot vegetable oil, removing them as they finish. In the dutch oven, heat some olive oil and in it cook a couple of medium onions, sliced thin, until golden; about half way through the cooking, add a teaspoon of dried sage you've crumbled between your fingers or double the amount of chopped fresh sage. When the onion's coloured, add your meat, a generous cup of dry white wine, a cup of light meat broth, some tomato (a couple of teaspoons of paste or 4-5 crushed canned tomatoes; in a pinch, I once subbed chopped sun-dried tomatoes to no ill effect), salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover and cook in a medium oven until the meat is tender (1½-2 hours), turning the shanks from time to time. Drain 2 cans of white kidney beans, add them to the dutch oven and cook another 15-20 minutes. Just before serving, stir in a couple of teaspoons of finely chopped garlic and a small handful of chopped Italian parsley.

It ain't light but, man, is it good!

[azurenath]

John Thorne, one of my favorite food writers, wrote a piece on cooking beans in I think Outlaw Cook (or was it pot on the fire? dunno). anyway, if you're eating this tonight, it might be too late, but the piece is worth seeking out and reading anyhow.

[RonC]

Thanks Carswell - it DOES sound good! Azurenath, it's for Sat. night. I'll try to check out your sites.

Thanks guys!

Sidecar Ron

[chefzadi]

Friends,

We love slow cooked lamb shanks and white beans from our favorite French restaurant. We found some good looking shanks today and now nead a great recipe to do in our Dutch Oven. We especially like the yummy flavorable beans. Looking forward to your sharing.

Thanks,

Sidecar Ron

←

If you give me the name of the dish as written on the menu of the French restaurant I can give you a recipe.

[irodguy]

Was the dish something like a Osco bucco with white beans? If so it's really pretty easy to make.

Basically the typical Osco bucco,

Dredge in Flour

Brown meat in OO

Remove meat for the moment

Add a little more oo

Add Onion, Celery, Bell Pepper & Garlic

Sweat

Add Bay leave, Thyme

Add Stock most often chicken

Add Beans & a small can of chopped tomatoes or fresh if you have some nice sweet fresh tomato

Return Lamb

Add about a 1/2 cup of Marsala or Sherry or other semi sweet wine

Cook @ 325 for about 3 hours or until falling off the bone

It's not really hard to find "decent" lamb shank. It's about $1.67 a lb @ Sams 30LB boxes. It's really pretty decent quality.

[RonC]

Thanks all for your suggestions. We combined and customized recipes on Sat. and came up with something pretty decent and the nice bottle of Cabernet helped.

Sidecar Ron