Braised Lamb Shank (Recipe)

I've been on a braised meat kick lately and this latest recipe is lamb shank braised in a tomato-based gravy. A slow cooker works best for this. Here's what I did.

I started off with two 1-pound lamb shanks, salted and peppered, then placed in a small slow cooker. In a 4-cup capacity measuring cup, I added 1 cup chicken broth, 1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce, 1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste, 1/2 cup dry sherry, 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce, 1/4 cup rice vinegar, 1/4 cup raisins, 4 heaping tbsp. dark brown sugar, 2 tbsp. dijon mustard, 2 tbsp. ground coriander, 1 tbsp. cumin, 1 tbsp. dry parsley flakes, 1 tbsp. finely chopped fresh chives, (dried would be fine too), 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp. cardamom, 1 tsp. smoked paprika, 1 tsp. celery salt, 1 tsp. minced garlic, 1 tsp. dry chili flakes, 1 1/2 tsp. salt and 1 tsp. pepper.

I then whisked this all together and poured it over the lamb shanks. The lamb shanks should be completely submerged. I then pushed 3 dry bay leaves into the top of the sauce (these should be removed after cooking), put the lid on and turned my slow cooker on low. After 11 hours, I served my super tender lamb over some steamed brown rice.

Any leftover sauce can be used to cook chicken, shrimp, pork, fish, veggies or even cook some ground beef in it and pour it over pasta. It's so versatile and delicious!