Braised Lamb Shanks

• 4 lamb shanks
• 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large sweet onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 4 large carrots, rinsed, peeled, and chopped
• 6 large cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 2 cups dry red wine
• 2 ½ cups beef stock or broth
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 3 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 2 large bay leaves
• 1 ½ pounds small red potatoes, rinsed

Preheat a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat, add olive oil, and swirl to coat the bottom of the pot. Add lamb and sear, without turning, until brown on one side. Turn and cook shanks until dark brown on all sides, about 20 minutes. If all the lamb shanks do not fit in the pot, cook half of them, remove to a platter, and cook the remainder. Remove lamb from the pot, add onions and carrots, and saute 2 minutes. Add garlic and saute 1 minute.

Deglaze the pan with red wine, scraping brown bits from the bottom of the pot. Stir beef stock and tomato paste. Return lamb to the pot, season with salt and pepper. Add bay leaves and sprigs of thyme and rosemary tied together with string.

Bring the pot to a low boil, cover, and simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the meat is very tender and almost falls off the bone, about 2 ½ hours. Add a little more wine or beef stock to the pot as needed to maintain the desired level of sauce. During the final 45 minutes of cooking, add red potatoes to the pot and cook until they are knife-tender.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings