Having spent the entire morning wandering up ‘n over the Dublin Mountains I feel very,very deserving of this little beauty….and I am delighted I had the foresight to make it yesterday! We are slap bang in the middle of pie season and this one will seriously impress anyone you set it in front of.

There is a bit of work with this recipe but the results speak for themselves – this is a pie Desperate Dan would walk over his granny to get his mitts on!

At the end of this article I have added a simple pictorial ‘how to’ guide to French Trimming a Lamb Shank – you can of course get your butcher to do this…but wheres the fun in that?

WHAT YOU NEED: 2 Shank Pies

2 full lamb shanks

1 medium carrot peeled and roughly chopped

1 medium white onion peeled and roughly chopped

4 cloves garlic

handful of button Mushrooms

1/2 bottle good red wine (Rioja is my choice)

200mls chicken stock

1 tablespoons tomato paste

1 large sprig of both rosemary and thyme

1 packet of ready made short crust pastry

1 egg beaten

HOW YOU DO IT:

Step1:Kick of by French Trimming your shanks (see step by step below), season really, really well and brown all over in a hot pan.

Step2: Add a glug or two of olive oil to a heavy based oven pot then add the onions, carrots, garlic and tomato paste – saute off for about 2-3 minutes then add the wine.

Step3: Bring the wine to a boil then remove from the heat – add the chicken stock and the shanks, lid on then into a pre-heated oven at 140c for 3 hours or until the meat falls from the bone. 30 minutes before the end of the cooking sling the mushrooms into the pot.

Step4: When the shanks are done remove them from the pot and strip the meat from the bone (hang onto the bone).

Step5: Take 2 Falcon style pie pots and spoon in the Lamb mix and top up with the cooking liquid – allow to cool completely then stand one of the shank bones in the cooled mix….this is totally optional but it does look friggin’ good!

Step6: Roll out the pastry to about 2-3 mil thick and cut out two circles for you pie lid, cut a cross dead center which is where the bone will poke through. Slip the lid onto the pie pot over the bone then crimp and use a fork to make a seal around the pot.

Step7: Finally brush the pastry with the beaten egg and cook in a pre-heated oven at 160c for about 20 minutes.

Serve with mushy pie and/or creamy buttered mash!

 

How to French Trim a Lamb Shank

You will need a mighty sharp boning knife and a clean hack saw (this is one I keep sterlised)

Next cut around the bone about 2 inches from the end

Make sure to go all the way around and down to the bone – hence the need for a serious knife

Next use your knife to cut the meat from the bone from the cut to the end

You can now get remove the meat completely and scrap the bone clean

Finally use the hack saw to remove the nobbly bit from the end of the bone

Finally – you now have classic French Trimmed lamb Shank