Slow Cooker Braised Lamb Shanks or Venison Shanks

For a man-pleasing meal, start with lamb or venison shanks and braise them in the slow cooker, filling the house with a savory welcome-home. The meat will practically fall off the bones and the sauce is silky smooth. Hello, long fall nights by the fire ...

Real Food, Fresh & Flexible. Low Carb. High Protein. Weight Watchers Friendly. Naturally Gluten Free. Weeknight Easy, Weekend Special.

~ Skip Straight to the Recipe ~

What Are Lamb Shanks?

So when was it, exactly, when I promised to cook my way through an entire lamb?

A year ago? two? three? maybe even four? Acck, the time does fly. The freezer remains full of meat so I'm re-committing myself to that promise.

First up, lamb shanks.

So what are shanks, exactly? Well, a "shank" is the upper portion of an animal's leg, from the knee up to the abdomen, say. Aha! Now that we know "where" the shank is, we also know that shanks are bony with relatively little meat and that the meat is muscular. Once we know this, we know that the meat is relatively tough, and that means, slow cooking whether in a slow cooker / crockpot or in the oven.

We Love This Slow Cooker Recipe for Venison Shanks, Too

With hunters in the family, no surprise that our freezer fills with venison too. And this very recipe has become my husband's method for cooking venison shanks – which says something because the man never cooks with recipes.

Just substitute the deer meat. That's it, no other changes needed!

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How to Safely Purée Hot Liquids in a Blender

One of the things that makes this recipe special is the silky sauce that's made from the vegetables that cook along with the shanks. The silkiness comes from puréeing it all in a blender.

And I can't emphasize this enough: take care, very much care.

CAUTION! Hot liquids and blenders are a dangerous combination! Fill a blender with hot liquid and press blend and whoosh, you'll be covered with hot liquid, it'll spew all over, making a mess and worse, burning you and anyone who's nearby.

Always take great caution when blending hot liquids in a blender or a food processor. The safest thing? Let the liquid cool before processing. Next best, just work slowly and carefully, here's how I do it.

• Work in batches, filling the blender no more than a quarter full each time.
• For extra care, place a towel over the lid.
• Hold the lid carefully with one hand while turning the blender on low speed with the other.
• The pressure from inside the blender will try to lift the lid, some times you can lift your hand, just a bit, to release a small amount of pressure, almost like burping a baby.
• The pressure gets stronger with each batch, I think that's because the blender container itself heats up from the hot liquid.

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SLOW COOKER BRAISED LAMB SHANKS or VENISON SHANKS

Hands-on time: 20 minutes to start, 10 minutes to finish
Time to table: About 4 hours
Makes about 8 lamb shanks and six cups sauce

LAMB or VENISON SHANKS
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 pounds lamb shanks (about 8 shanks), visible fat removed, patted dry
• or 3 pounds venison shanks (about 8 shanks), silverskin removed, patted dry
• Salt & pepper to taste

VEGETABLES
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 2 ribs celery, trimmed and chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 15 ounces canned diced tomatoes
• Salt & pepper to taste

BRAISING LIQUID
• 1 cup red wine
• 2 cups lamb stock or beef stock
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• Salt & pepper to taste

Set slow cooker to "high".

LAMB SHANKS or VENISON SHANKS In a large skillet, heat olive oil until shimmery on medium high. Add the shanks and season with salt and pepper, then cook without moving until that side browns, then turn and repeat on all sides.

VEGETABLES While the lamb shanks brown, collect vegetables in the bottom of the slow cooker. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

BRAISING LIQUID Once the shanks are brown, arrange on top of the vegetables in a single layer, meatier side down, tilting if need be to fit the slow cooker. Add red wine to the hot skillet (it will sizzle!) and "deglaze" the pan by scraping up the "fond" (the brown bits of meat left in the bottom of the skillet). Add the stock, tomato paste, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Pour liquid over the vegetables and lamb shanks, the shank should be partially not completely submerged.

SLOW COOKER on HIGH Cook on high for about 3 hours or until the meat easily releases from the bone but doesn't "fall off" the bone.

SLOW COOKER on LOW Cook on low for 6 - 8 hours (this is the typical range for slow cooker, I prefer the higher temperature).

SAUCE Lift shanks out of the slow cooker and set aside. Purée liquid and vegetables in a blender until smooth. IMPORTANT!! See Safety Instructions, above, we don't want hot liquid spewing all over you and your kitchen!

TO SERVE On each plate, pool a few spoonfuls of sauce, top with a lamb shank, then drizzle with more sauce.

MAKE-AHEAD Refrigerate the shanks and the sauce separately until about a half hour before serving. Gently warm the sauce and shanks in a deep skillet, spooning sauce over the shanks every few minutes. Serve when hot.

"SLOW COOK IN THE OVEN" OPTION This recipe works beautifully in an actual slow cooker but mostly, we do our slow cooking right in the oven. Here's how. Just use a large, deep heavy and oven-safe skillet with a lid, we use a LeCreuset braising pan. Once the shanks are browned, arrange the vegetables, shanks and braising liquid in the skillet. Then slow cook in the oven at 225F to 250F for about 6 - 8 hours. It's that simple!

ALANNA's TIPS To avoid the stringiness that can happen in a sauce with celery, either pull off the celery's strings away before chopping or just omit them from the sauce entirely. No red wine? Use another liquid like apple cider or even more stock. If you have time, let the braising liquid cool in the refrigerator for a few hours before puréeing. This lets the fat rise to the top so that it can be easily removed and discarded. Is anyone noticing how specific my recipes are becoming about seasoning? My weekly column in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch puts me in the city's top restaurant kitchens about once a week, learning from top chefs. My latest revelation, this time from The Crossing, one of the city's fine-dining restaurants? The importance of seasoning a dish at every stage, just a little, rather than only at the end.

NUTRITION INFORMATION Per Serving, assumes 8 servings, about 3 ounces of cooked lamb meat plus 3/4 cups sauce: 291 Calories; 16g Tot Fat; 7g Sat Fat; 86mg Cholesterol; 228mg Sodium; 7g Carb; 2g Fiber; 4g Sugar; 24g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS Old Points 7 & PointsPlus 7 & SmartPoints 9 & Freestyle 8 & myWW green 8 & blue 8 & purple 8

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma.

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Seasonal Cooking: Autumn Classics Across the Years

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This Week, Elsewhere

~ Chicken Chardonnay ~
from Surf & Sirloin
~ more St. Louis Restaurant Recipes ~
My Weekly Column in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

~ Raw Brussels Sprouts Salad ~
~ more Recent Recipes ~
A Veggie Venture

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Cooking Your Way Through a Whole Lamb

(hover with a mouse for a description; otherwise click a photo to view the recipe)

~ more lamb recipes ~

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Shop Your Pantry First

(helping home cooks save money on groceries)

~ lamb recipes ~
~ All Recipes, By Ingredient ~
~ How to Save Money on Groceries ~

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Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. If you make this recipe, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below.

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