Slow-cooked Karoo lamb shank recipe

What’s a cooking course in the Karoo without a Karoo lamb recipe? This slow-cooked Karoo lamb shank recipe was one of the highlights at a weekend cooking course at African Relish in Prince Albert.

Slow-cooked Karoo lamb shank. Photo by Sarah Duff.

Slow-cooked Karoo lamb shank recipe

Serves six

Ingredients

• 6 Karoo lamb shanks
• 1 litre beef stock
• 1 litre red wine
• 4 bay leaves
• 1 stalk rosemary
• 2 sticks cinnamon
• 6 small onions, peeled
• 4 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 leeks, chopped
• 150 g tomato paste
• 50 g brown sugar
• 100 ml olive oil

Cooking method

1. Turn oven to 160° C. Sauté onions, carrots, leeks, herbs and celery with oil in a large pot.
2. Add tomato paste and brown sugar. Cook for a few minutes and then add stock and wine. Bring to a boil.
3. Season shanks well and, in another frying pan, seal them off in a few drops of oil until golden brown.
4. Remove shanks from the frying pan and place into a deep roasting tin.
5. Pour over the sauce, cover with tin foil and place in the oven.
6. Cook for three hours until the meat is soft and almost falls off the bone.
7. Remove from the oven and move shanks from pan to a serving dish.
8. Strain the sauce and reduce to a thin jus in a saucepan.
9. Serve with roast vegetables, roast potatoes and spicy grape and tomato relish.

Spicy grape and tomato relish

Makes about three jars

Ingredients

• 500 g chopped tomatoes
• 250 g sugar
• 2 apples, peeled and diced
• 2 small onions, finely chopped
• 150 ml white wine vinegar
• 100 g raisins
• 2 g chilli fl akes
• 1 tsp black mustard seeds
• 1 tsp mustard powder
• 20 mm piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
• 2 cups of fresh grapes, halved and pips removed
• Generous pinch of salt

Cooking method

1. Place the tomatoes, apples, onions, sugar, vinegar, raisins and salt into a large pot.
2. Cover and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients and cover and cook for a further 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer until the relish is thick.
5. Remove from heat and store in sterilised jars.