Prep time: 15 mins/Cook time: 3 hours/ Serves: 4-6
Ingredients:
2 tbsp flour
salt and ground black pepper
8 lamb shanks
3 tbsp oil
4 whole heads garlic, halved crosswise
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp brown sugar
few drops hot pepper sauce
1½ cups (375ml) full-bodied red wine
1 cup port
2 sprigs rosemary, stalks removed and leaves chopped
2 cups beef or lamb stock
Method:
Preheat oven to 180 deg C.
Place flour in a clean plastic bag with salt and a generous grind of pepper.
Add shanks and shake to lightly coat.
Heat oil in a large, heavy-based pan and brown shanks in batches.
Transfer to a large baking dish along with garlic halves.
Discard excess fat from pan, add tomato paste and cook a minute or two to let the flavour develop.
Add remaining ingredients and bring to a fast simmer. Stir well to lift any pan sediments then pour over meat. Cover and bake for 2 hours (or if serving at once and not reheating, cook for 2-3 hours or until very tender).
Cool, chill then remove any fat that sits on top.
To reheat, bring back to room temperature then cook a further 1 hour at 160 deg C. Serve shanks with a garlic half and sauce. Accompany with mash and peas and beans.