When it's miserably cold and wet outdoors, there are few more welcoming sights on the table indoors than a generously sauced lamb shank sitting alongside a pile of mashed potato.
Meat is always more delicious cooked on the bone, which is why the shank is such a tasty treat. We are serving it in classic style with carrots, celery and onions and partnering it with cheese-laced potato. The cheese is, of course, optional, but it does add a piquant flavour.
Serves 4
6 carrots
Half cup plain flour salt and white pepper
4 lamb shanks, trimmed of excess fat
4 Tbsps pure olive oil
2 stalks celery, de-stringed, chopped
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, part-crushed, chopped
1 cup red wine
1 tin Italian tomatoes
1 cup chicken stock
3 star anise
Half tsp dried oregano
1 Tbsp mirin (Japanese cooking sake)
12 baby (pickling) onions, peeled, but left whole*
cracked black pepper
Set oven to 180C. Finely dice four of the carrots and cut the other two into 2cm-thick discs. Season the flour with salt and pepper and coat the shanks in it. Heat three tablespoons of the oil in a heavy casserole and lightly brown the meat, then remove.
If the flour has burned, wash out the casserole, add more oil, then celery, onion and diced carrots. Cook on a low heat until soft, but not brown, then add garlic.
Stir, then return the shanks, add wine and reduce a little, chop the tomatoes roughly, add them with the stock, star anise, oregano and a little salt and pepper (be careful if you use commercial stock which can be salty).
Cook in the oven for one hour.
Heat the remaining oil with the mirin in a frypan and lightly glaze the carrot discs and baby onions.
Add the vegetables to the shanks after an hour and cook another 30 minutes, or until the meat is very tender.
Check seasoning and serve with potatoes mashed with milk, a little butter and a generous amount of grated Parmesan cheese, plus cream if you like, and your preferred green vegetable.
* Baby onions are easier to peel if rolled on the bench until their skins "crackle".
Wine match
This hearty dish needs an equally robust wine to be at its best, and that leads us towards syrah, the same grape that the Aussies call shiraz. There are few better examples than Man o' War Dreadnought Syrah 2007, a rich, red glassful of plum and mushroom flavours with tannins that add grip without spoiling its impressive approachability. It's not cheap at around $45 a bottle, but it's well worth splashing out.