Shank You Very Much!

So I'm rereading the Harry Potters again and in light of our recent CCCCOLD weather I have been wanting some of Hogwart's 'warming soups and stews.' What's more British than lamb? Well probably lots. But this was extra good on a cold, wet Mississippi night.

Heat a couple of tablespoons of OLIVE OIL. When hot, put in 2 lamb shanks. Brown on all sides. In fact, brown more than you think. Pull shanks out and add 1 sliced ONION and 1 cup of sliced MUSHROOMS. Brown until nearly caramelized. Add 1 large can of DICED TOMATO. de-glaze the pan with tomato's juice. Add 3 cans of beef broth. Add ROSEMARY, GARLIC, SALT PEPPER, SEASON'TUP. add lamb shanks back into the stew. Allow to stew for as long as you can. I stewed for 3 hours. Remove the shanks and pull the meat and add back into stew. I served over red skin mashed potatoes.

Alright, this is pretty reminiscent of osso bucco. We had some amazing veal osso bucco back at Christmas that was prepared by my super cool neice, Meghan. Meg cooked dinner for the Scotts after her mom was in a car accident...at her mother's insistence. This recipe was something off the top of my head, but after eating and thinking I was sooo original I remembered Meghan's yummy veal osso buco. So much for originality. Oh yeah and this was mostly braised lamb in espagnole sauce. So much for originality! I'm pretty sure this would work with ox tails too. I may try that next time.