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Slow Cooker Braised Lamb Shanks or Venison Shanks | ![]() |
Real Food, Fresh & Flexible. Low Carb. High Protein. Weight Watchers Friendly. Naturally Gluten Free. Weeknight Easy, Weekend Special.
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!
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.
SLOW COOKER BRAISED LAMB SHANKS or VENISON SHANKS
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!













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2013 & 2020
It is that time of the year, isn't it, for this kind of yumminess? We lovvvvvvvvvvvve lamb shanks. With the cold predicted for the weekend, I'm thinking this will be Sunday supper. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteAlanna, I just did lamb shanks last weekend - very similar to yours! I used the pressure cooker (about 30 minutes, as I recall) and added some soaked pink beans - Rather than blending the sauce, I reduced it a bit, and tossed with pasta - plus a garnish of chopped fresh herbs at table. Perfect for this time of year (we just woke out to our first frost this morning).
ReplyDeleteDenise ~ This is a perfect "fall Sunday supper" for sure! I'm curious, where do you buy lamp shanks in St. Louis? We still have lamb in the freezer from Farmgirl but she's not raising lambs for retail sale any longer ...
ReplyDeleteKris ~ Oh those pressure cookers are "magic" -- aren't they?! So nice to hear from you! PS Pasta would have been great with the sauce but honestly, I was dying for mashed potatoes!