barley | cathyandchucky

Now I must tell you all that this is not a classically pretty dish to photograph but I can assure everyone that it is very easy to make and tasty to eat on those cold winters nights we are currently getting here in the far south of Western Australia. It is also a meal that needn’t cost the earth to make if you can source some cheap lamb shanks from your butcher or local supermarket.

The ingredients are purely whatever you have to hand really and these are what I had in my pantry cupboard.

Serves 2

2 lamb shanks

1 tin of tomatoes, 400-440 Gm crushed or diced

1 onion, sliced

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 carrot, roughly chopped

A couple of handfuls of Puy lentils, or others of your liking, even barley will do.

500 ml of good stock, beef, chicken or even vegetable

Plain flour (I used sorghum) salt and pepper to dust the shanks

2 tablespoons roughly of oil

If you have a handful of dried porcini mushrooms, chuck them in too 😀
Firstly, dust the shanks in the combined seasoned flour then brown in a little oil in a frying pan.

Next , place the browned shanks in a heavy based casserole dish or pan. After doing this step, I like to add the stock and dried mushrooms if I have any to the frying pan to lift up any caramelised bits before I pour this over the top of the lamb shanks.

After putting the lamb shanks in the casserole, place all the other ingredients on top.

Now all you have to do is cover the dish with either the lid or a good layer of foil/baking paper and place in a preheated 160-170 degree Celsius oven for 2 -2 1/2 hours.