Lamb Shanks For Dinner

Notwithstanding the several non-trival obstacles, in spite of weakness and rapid exhaustion, I drove myself today to flour-coat and spice four lamb shanks. I browned them in olive oil in my large frying pan, then put them into the slow cooker atop a cup of Cabernet Sauvignon with three Bay leaves afloat on the surface. This is the first step in the day long process of preparing my Slow Cooker Lamb Shanks.

The lamb shanks are supposed to cook for 8 hours. Home Care arrived late, but I bustled her off as quickly as I cook, forgoing breakfast to get this work done. The most difficult parts were all of it; getting out the pan to flour-coat and spice the shanks, getting the spices out of the cupboard, picking up all the spices which fell out of the spice tray when I dropped it, getting the shanks from the packaging into the spicing tray then into the frying pan, getting them out of the frying pan into the slow cooker. Oh, then there are the merely not so easy parts, like opening the bottle of wine and tidying up the mess, mostly.

There is a second step to all this. The lambshanks will be flavourful enough on their own. However I like to saute some onion, garlic, peppers, and, oddly enough, carrots in the remnants of the browning pan, then add some more red wine, or sometimes chicken stock, then reduce it down, finally adding it to the slow cooker. I plan on doing this part after I have a break, take about an hour to relax and recover.

In order to prepare any kind of a meal these days, I am compelled to do it in stages, carefully. If there is anything I can do the night before, I usually do my best. In fact I have decided that the next time I do lamb shanks, I will prepare everything the night before, putting the shanks in the slow cooker with the wine and bay leaf, preparing the vegetables in stock, then adding them when I plug in the slow cooker. That way things get doing almost an hour sooner, an important consideration when something calls for 8 hours in the slow cooker.

So now I rest, drinking my coffee, writing this post, waiting for David to show up with an Egg McMuffin for me. After that, part two. I think I will use chicken stock this time instead of wine. There's plenty in the slow cooker already.