lamb shanks with du puy lentils
This is one of the most indulgent meals I’ve ever made without the painstaking effort. I learnt a lot from this one. Here you go:
get your meat from a butcher and ask portion sizes, this meal fed 8 and we had left overs.
I left my lamb in for 3 hours and it was amazing. The time the recipe called for was not enough. That being said give yourself hours to prepare and put in the oven, once in the oven there’s not much more to do.
The meat on the bone makes a great serving feature but definitely expect left overs. Something you can do is make personalized to go boxes for your guests.
Highly recommend you give this one a try.
recipe
8 lamb shanks, bones trimmed
2 x 400g (14oz) cans of whole peeled tomatoes
4 cups (2 pints) beef stock
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons oregano leaves
2 cups du puy lentils
Preheat the oven to 200C (400F). Place lamb shanks, tomatoes, stock, sugar and oregano in a large baking dish and over tightly. Bake for 45 minutes, then turn the shanks, add lentils and bake, covered, for a further 45 minutes or until the lamb is soft.
To serve, spoon lentils and shanks onto a serving plates and top with the pan juice. Serve with creamy mashed potatoes if you wish (I do). Serves 4 (mine served 8 but we did appies and dessert)
The Face of Flavour 
This one looks delicious, I am definitely going to try it…sounds like a great entertaining recipe! Do you recommend a good butcher in Vancouver? And are du puy lentils hard to find? I have never heard of them.
It’s perfect for entertaining. I use Windsor Meats on Main and 25th. They are so helpful. The du puy lentils are black lentils and should be found in places like whole foods or gourmet warehouse.
It definitely needs much more time than the recipe suggests. 45 mins twice is nowhere near enough. Donna in her preamble left hers in the oven for 3 hours…that’s more like it!!!!