Lamb Shanks in Dark Ale

My family absolutely love lamb shanks. When you cook them until they're just falling apart, they develop the most amazing flavours. This recipe is all about investing in dark sticky sauce and tender meat. In the UK we're spoiled for choice when it comes to interesting ales, and adding a good dark ale to the onions creates the most brilliant depth of flavour. Whatever you do, do NOT skip the mint oil or spring onions. It's like flipping a light switch - just that simple little touch makes the whole dish sing.

Ingredients:

3 red onions, peeled
olive oil
sea salt and ground pepper
2 handfuls of raisins
100ml thick-cut marmalade
30ml tomato ketchup
50ml Worcestershire sauce, plus extra for serving
200ml smooth dark ale
6 lamb shanks, roughly 350g each
8 sprigs of fresh rosemary
1 litre chicken stock

To serve:

a small bunch of fresh mint leaves
a few tablespoons olive oil
2 spring onions, trimmed
cider vinegar

Method:

Finely chop the onions and put them into a really large casserole-type pan (roughly 26cm in diameter and 12cm deep), with a good splash of olive oil and a reasonable pinch of salt and pepper. Cook over a medium to high heat, stirring as you go, until the onions start to caramelize. Add the raisins and marmalade, then add the ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and dark ale. Give it all a good stir, then leave to gently simmer.

Put the lamb shanks into a large frying pan (roughly 30cm wide) on a medium to high heat with a drizzle of olive oil – you can cook them in batches if needed. Turn them every few minutes; once they have some good colour, pick in the rosemary leaves and move them around in the pan to get crispy, but don’t let them burn. Use tongs to move the shanks into the pan of onions, then pour in all their juices and the crispy rosemary. Add the stock, put the lid on, turn down the heat and leave to blip away slowly for around 3 hours, or until the meat falls off the bone easily. Try to turn the shanks halfway through so they cook evenly.

When the lamb shanks are ready, carefully move them to a platter, making sure the meat stays intact. Whiz or liquidize the gravy with a stick blender until smooth, then allow to reduce and thicken. Pound most of the mint leaves in a pestle and mortar with a good pinch of salt and the olive oil, then take to the table. Finely slice up the spring onions and toss on a plate with the remaining fresh mint leaves, a drizzle of cider vinegar and a pinch of salt.

Gently, so they don’t fall apart, transfer the shanks to a serving platter. Add a little splash of cider vinegar and a few more splashes of Worcestershire sauce to the remaining gravy in the casserole, then ladle it all over the lamb shank and pour the rest into a jug for people to help themselves. Scatter the vinegary spring onions and a few fresh mint leaves all over the top, drizzle the mint oil all around the shanks. Serve with mashed potatoes or rice.