Any regular readers of this blog will know that in the colder months, when I can light the oven in Spain (or pretty much any time in England) I am a huge fan of slow cooked comfort food.
In Spain we often eat pork shanks, in England we got to enjoy lamb instead. Here´s a simple recipe that is great for those cold winter days or nights and also a useful dish for entertaining as it can be prepared ahead and then forgotten about for several hours before serving.
Ingredients (to serve 2 people, easily doubled)
- Two lamb shanks
- 1 can (400g approx) of borlotti beans
- About 1 cup of chopped tomatoes (tinned are fine at this time of year)
- A sprig of rosemary
- 4 cloves of crushed garlic
- A glass of red wine
- A teaspoon of olive oil
- A teaspoon of tomato purée
- Salt & Pepper
Mix all the ingredients (except the meat) together and season, pour them over the lamb using a deep oven proof dish. Cover with a lid or wrap tightly in foil and cook in a low oven for about 4 hours.
Serve with creamy mashed potato and make sure to finish that wine you opened to make the dish.
Chica Andaluza 
Perfect and the right amount of mash too! 😉
Oh yes, you need plenty to soak up the juices!
I’m drooling over that whole dish. The potatoes look amazing. I need to find these beans. If I can’t, I’ll just have to have lamb.
It´s good too with canellini beans!
Mmmm, I think I’ll have this at the weekend. So simple and delish.
Thanks Chica!
Simple is great isn´t it – tasty meal awaits you while you have time to get on with enjoying the weekend!
You’ve got a way of putting such comfort on a plate Tanya! (though i dont do lamb, i do all the rest, and you’ve made this look altogether wonderful! and those borlotti beans are a favorite of ours.)
I think this would be great with chicken pieces too (bone on, if possible) and I´m with you on the beans 🙂
Looks really good. I’d like to try this also with pork shanks and fresh borlotti beans.
Real food. Absolutely fab:)
Thanks Roger – it sticks to your ribs!
I just made it again today using pork shanks and cannellini beans plus I added some rosemary (must have been thinking of you!)
Oh Yummy! I love lamb – and lamb shanks are just the best comfort food.
And they´re not toooo expensive a way to eat lamb!
This reminds me of a dish I used to make years ago – one of my favorite winter dishes. Then I forgot all about it. Funny how you can make things repeatedly and then they disappear from your food thoughts. Thank you for the reminder. I will definitely be making this on our next snowy day!
I know what you mean. I have made this several times in a few weeks and then I´ll be reminded of another favourite and move onto that one!
That looks so delicious with all those succulent juices running down over the mash. And it’s actually cold here today…I want! 🙂
Ooh those juices – that´s why you need piles of potato!
OMG this looks so delicious!!! It’s so nice to be back to blogging! I hope you are well! 🙂
It´s lovely to be back to blogging – we´re well and happy (and well fed!)
I’ve never had borlotti beans. I’ll have to keep an eye out for them
Oh do give them a go – they sell them tinned in most supermarkets f you don´t want to soak and boil them yourselves. Good too cold in a bean salad.
That shank looks so good, Tanya, resting atop those potatoes. With the exception of the beans, I cook shanks in much the same way. The beans make this dish even heartier and I need to find some. Looks like Max and I will be on a mission to find borlotti! Our temperatures are dropping into braise range and I love the kitchen when there’s a slow braise in the oven. These lamb shanks of yours will do nicely. 🙂
I only recently started cooking them with the beans as we have been skipping lunch sometimes when working (bad, I know) but then found ourselves super hungry by the time we´d finished. This makes a hearty dish super hearty and if there are any leftovers, they make a great soup the next day with some stock added. I love braising – it warms the house and everything smells wonderful all day!
I’m salivating just reading this. Looks absolutely delicious!! Will have to try it.
I just did your last lamb shank recipe for dinner last night, to welcome Hubby home from his trip…he was over-the-moon happy with it!
He also happened to be looking over my shoulder when I opened this one.
“HEY! Do that one next!” he said…
Thanks, for both of them!
Oh you´ve made my day – I´m thrilled when someone is inspired to cook a récipe or to make it their own! So glad you enjoyed it and welcome back to your hubby 🙂
Oh, that does sound good and just the thing for winter (or, I suppose, any time in England !) and I love dishes that can be left in the oven for four hours, scenting the house with a hint of what’s to come. Delicious!
It´s such an easy way of cooking and the anticipation with the smells and the warm house are so good!
I can’t believe that we cook so many of the same dishes. I cooked lamb shanks last night and thought about serving them with cannellini beans but went with orzo instead. I’ll definitely make your recipe the next time.
We´re cooking by telepathy right now! The orzo sounds good, don´t find it much in Spain…now I want to track some down 🙂
Absolutely love lamb shanks even tho’ Australian prices for them are becoming outrageous. Lovely recipe [I usually use cannelini] – methinks you would not only finish that bottle of wine but open another one [:) !] and I truly can’t see any leftovers possible!! Have never seen pork shanks in the supermarket here: have to look!
Yes, it´s crazy how much some places charge for these shanks. Might be worth asking a butcher if he has any pork shanks as they may even be thrown away if they´re not “trendy” – hey you could start a food fashion revolution in Oz for eating pork shanks!
About time I did something just like that! Going to get some tripe and calves liver on Friday [leftover passions from childhood] : shall ask 🙂 !
Ooh I love those things too! I have a tripe/trotters recipe on here somewhere, it´s a hugely popular dish in Andalucia 🙂
Now, there’s a taste of home … wherever it may be!
Oh home is where the heart is – and luckily I travel with my loved ones, so it´s anywhere we are together!
I could survive on comfort food alone Tanya. SCRUMITY meal!
🙂 Mandy xo
I know how you feel Mandy!
My kind of food all year long Tanya 🙂
I have been know to cook this in the height of summer!
You know…if I wasn’t a vegan I would SOOO run with this recipe till I keeled over! You know what? Bollocks! I am going to make it anyway! No lamb shanks but I DO have borlotti beans planted this year for the first time…till those little babies are nestled in my stockpot I will use some good quality dried/soaked borlotti’s and will run with this promising recipe anyway. Cheers for sharing it and it looks like Spain has soaked right back into you like red wine to a sponge 😉
Slow cooked borlotti beans cooked like this with crusty bread and a big spoon to eat it with – I´d feel like the daddy bear in goldilocks (minus the porridge) – it would be great!
wow … I really liked the lamb chops up meat is very tender
Absolutely love lamb shanks even tho’ Australian prices for them are becoming outrageous. Lovely recipe [I usually use cannelini] – methinks you would not only finish that bottle of wine but open another one [:) !] and I truly can’t see any leftovers possible!! Have never seen pork shanks in the supermarket here: have to look!
Thanks for your lovely comment. Lamb shanks in England are now creeping up in price. In Spain pork shanks are still fairly reasonably priced and available but no doubt this will change as demand increases!
thanks for your response, I will try 😀