Right from the start, we wanted to have the best-tasting meat to serve farm-to-fork dishes in our restaurant so, having consulted with the best local butchers, we settled on Hebridean and Manx Loughtan sheep. Though small, the animals mature with a really good marbling to the meat, especially when fed a diet with extra spelt bran from our mill. This dish is one of my favourites.
SERVES 4
PREPARATION TIME: 20 minutes COOKING TIME: 3½ hours
4 lamb shanks
125g/4½oz/1 cup white spelt flour
2 tbsp olive oil
10 tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 head of celery, roughly chopped
3 onions, roughly chopped
1 leek, trimmed and roughly chopped
3 large carrots, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 large rosemary sprig
50g/1¾oz/½ small jar Spanish or Italian anchovies, drained and chopped
1 tsp tomato purée
600ml/21fl oz/scant 2½ cups red wine
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
about 500ml/17fl oz/2 cups lamb or vegetable stock or water
200g/7oz/heaped 1 cup pearled spelt
1 tbsp clear honey
1 tbsp unsalted butter (optional)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
seasonal vegetables or fresh green salad herbs, to serve
Preheat the oven to 140°C/275°F/Gas 1.
Season the flour generously with salt and pepper. Roll the lamb shanks in the seasoned flour until coated. Heat the oil in a heavy-based frying pan over a medium heat, add the lamb and fry until the meat is coloured all over.
Transfer the lamb to a deep roasting dish and add the chopped vegetables, garlic, rosemary and anchovies. Blend the tomato purée with the wine and Worcestershire sauce and add it to the pan, then add just enough stock to cover the lamb and vegetables. Cover the dish loosely with kitchen foil and cook in the oven for 3 hours. The lamb shanks should be soft and the meat should come off the bone easily.
Meanwhile, cook the pearled spelt in boiling water for 20 minutes, or until tender, following the packet instructions. Drain.
Lift the lamb out of the dish, cover with kitchen foil and leave to one side. Strain the cooking liquid through a fine sieve into a saucepan and discard the vegetables. Bring the sauce to the boil over a high heat and boil for a few minutes until reduced by about half. Stir in the honey for extra stickiness and the butter for gloss, too, if you like.
Turn the heat down to low, add the cooked pearled spelt to the sauce and warm through, then add the lamb shanks, cover them with the sauce and gently warm through before serving with seasonal vegetables of your choice, such as carrots, broccoli or peas, or a fresh green salad with herbs.