Slow Cooked Aged Balsamic & Thyme Lamb Shanks

These divine lamb shanks are so easy to prepare – just pop them in the slow cooker and you will have tender meat falling off the bone in a full-of-flavour tomato, balsamic sauce!

Ingredients

• 4 lamb shanks
• 100ml olive oil
• 2 x 400g tins crushed tomatoes
• 2 red onions, peeled and thinly sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• ½ cup plain flour
• 2 tablespoons dried thyme
• 80ml honey
• 125ml Lirah Gourmet Aged Balsamic
• 2 tablespoons cornflour, plus 2 tablespoons water
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Place the plain flour with salt & pepper to taste, in a plastic bag. Add your lamb shanks and roll around to coat evenly. Remove the lamb, shaking off excess flour.
2. Heat a frypan over medium-high heat and add half of the olive oil. Add the lamb shanks and cook for 3-4 minutes, turning regularly, until browned all over. Remove the shanks and set aside.
3. In the same pan heat the remaining oil. Add the onion, garlic and thyme, cooking for a couple of minutes until fragrant and the onion is starting to turn translucent. Now add the Lirah Gourmet Aged Balsamic, honey and tomatoes and stir together until just starting to boil. Remove from the heat.
4. Pour sauce into the base of your slow cooker. Arrange the lamb shanks over the top, leaving the bone of the shanks pointing up, out of the sauce. Spoon some of the sauce over the lamb itself. Cook on slow for 8 hours.
5. Once the shanks are cooked carefully remove them from the slow cooker and set aside covered loosely with foil to keep warm.
6. Transfer your sauce to a saucepan, bring to the boil and then simmer for approx. 10 minutes until it reduces and thickens slightly. Meanwhile, dissolve the cornflour in water and stir this into the saucepan to further thicken the sauce. Season well.
7. Serve lamb shanks with steamed beans and mashed potato with the sauce spooned over the top. Enjoy!