Jono & Jules do food & wine

Real comfort food with rich and deep flavours. We took the meat of the shanks when they were cooked cause our bowls weren’t big enough!

A dish of lamb shanks with preserved lemon and swede – to serve 4

• 2 large onions, sliced into thick segments
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 4 lamb shanks
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 750ml light stock or water
• 200ml white vermouth or white wine
• a large turnip (or a swede if that’s what you call them), cut into chunks
• juice of half a lemon
• 2 preserved lemons
• 4 bushy sprigs of parsley

Preheat the oven to 160°C/Gas 3.

Warm the oil in a deep casserole and season the lamb. Lighlty brown the lamb all over in the oil, then lift it out.

Add the onions to the pan. Let them soften and colour a little , then stir in the flour.

Add the garlic, stock and wine and bring to the boil. As soon as it boils, add the turnip and the lemon juice along with the spent lemon shell, plus some seasoning.

Put the lamb shanks back in, cover with greaseproof paper and a lid and put in the oven for 2 hours, turning the shanks now and then.

After an 1½ hours cut the preserved lemons in half and scrape out the pith. Chop the skin fairly finely. Add to the casserole and continue to cook for the remaining 30 minutes or until the turnip is tender and you can easily pull the lamb from the bones.

Roughly chop the parsley leaves and add to the casserole. Let it settle for a minute or two before serving.

Wine Suggestion: We would usually pair lamb with red wine but it’s important to think about the sauce when you are matching wine with food. This dish has quite an intense lemon flavour and the sauce is rich which calls more for a full-bodied white such as an oaked Sémillon.

(Original recipe from Nigel Slater’s Tender Volume 1, Fourth Estate, 2009.)