Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks with Peas in Mint Cream – Best Recipe You Need!

It is never too late or never too early to devour a herb-infused lamb meal. Let it be breakfast, lunch, or even dinner, the lamb always finds its way to bring about a spectacular mood on Sundays, especially when your whole family is in the house.

Lamb Shanks is a wholesome meal when it comes to serving your family on a fine Sunday at noon or even when you have guests coming over. But to be more precise, slow cooked lamb shanks prepared with a humongous amount of herbs are an even more perfect way to make the luncheon extra special. 

Now, you might wonder how the slow cooked lamb shanks possibly differ from the usual lamb shank curry because both are cooked using lamb meat. Well, there are noticeable differences. Slow cooked lamb shanks tend to be more flavorful, but as the name suggests, it does take time to prepare perfect slow cooked lamb shanks suffused with fine herbs.

When it comes to go-to sides for lamb dishes, many options are available. From buttery garlic sauce,cheese-herb crust, Avocado, and Asparagus salad, to marinated white bean salad, you can ace up the entire luncheon using these. One go-to side dish that goes well is the Peas in mint cream. 

So, in this article, you will learn how to cook the perfect slow cooked lamb shanks and how to make them more palatable by pairing them up with peas with mint cream. So, gear up for a finger-licking recipe ahead of you. 

Recipe 

Slow cooked lamb shanks are an extremely delectable lamb recipe that is usually preferred as lunch or for cold winter evenings. This dish is known for its immense savor of herbs like rosemary leaves, thyme sprigs, bay leaves, and also for the intervention of red wine while cooking to make it taste more appetizing. 

On the other hand, Peas with mint cream, or let’s say minted peas, is a delightful go-to side dish for lamb, prepared using light cream and sweetpeas. The traditional way of making minted peas is by infusing the milk of the cream with fresh mint leaves for many hours so that the flavor of the mint gets blended with the milk, thus giving a taste as fresh as spring. 

Ingredients 

For Slow cooked Lamb Shanks

• Lamb shanks – 4 
• Thyme sprigs – 2
• Rosemary sprigs – 2
• Crushed garlic – 3 cloves
• Finely chopped onions – 1 big onion 
• Tomato purée – 3 tablespoon   
• Lamb stock – 500 ml
• Bay leaves – 2
• Olive oil – 2 tablespoon 
• Red wine (light) – 250 ml
• Flour – 2 tablespoon
• Worcestershire sauce – 2 tablespoons (optional)
• Diced carrots 2
• Water – 1 cup
• Salt and pepper  

For Peas in mint cream 

• Fresh cream – 1 cup (heavy or light)
• Black pepper – freshly ground
• Fresh mint leaves – 4 sprigs 
• Chopped onion – 2 tablespoon 
• Sweetpeas – 500 grams
• Olive oil – 2 tablespoons
• Salt 

Slow cooked lamb shanks with Minted Peas: The preparation 

The lamb shanks 

1. Take a clean bowl and place the lamb shanks. Make a few incisions on them to marinate. Next, take a mortar and crush rosemary and thyme sprigs, salt, and black pepper. Grind until a dry, coarse mixture is obtained. 
2. Now, add the mixture to the bowl and coat the shanks with the flour. Let the bowl sit in the refrigerator for one hour. Now, heat olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the lamb shanks into the pan and fry them until they turn all brown. 
3. Frying the lamb shanks makes it softer and enhances the overall flavor of the dish. Meanwhile, take a slow cooker, pour the tomato purée, and add the diced carrots and onions. 
4. Now it’s time to prepare a sauce. Take a small bowl and put in the crushed garlic, red wine, Worcestershire sauce, and the leftover tomato paste. Combine all the ingredients well until a sauce-like mixture is obtained. 
5. Later, place all the fried lamb shanks on the slow cooker and pour the sauce all over it. After that, pour in the lamb stock too. Lamb stock, along with the sauce, makes the lamb shanks succulent. 
6. Now, add in the leftover herbs, bay leaves, and salt and slow cook the entire mix for at least six and a half hours on high flame. If you prefer slow cooking on a low flame, make sure you cook for at least eight hours. 
7. After six hours, the perfect slow cooked lamb shanks are ready. You can adjust the salt and pepper according to your palate. Now let’s see how to prepare the minted peas quickly and easily. 

 The peas in mint cream

1. Take a saucepan and warm the cream beforehand. Warm it until you see bubbles on them. Remember that you aren’t supposed to boil the cream, so keep an eye on it. They should look a bit clotted but not entirely. Do not scald it on high flame. Instead, maintain the medium-low flame throughout the entire process. 
2. This process takes around ten minutes. After scalding the cream, add the mint leaves to the cream and let the leaves steep in them for at least 50 minutes. You can even prepare the mint cream the night before and refrigerate it for 24 hours. However, make sure you take the cream out at least half an hour before cooking as you don’t want to use ice-cold cream for the side dish. 
3. Now, take a clean pan and add two to three tablespoons of olive oil. Add the chopped onions and saute until they turn translucent. Now add the defrosted peas to it and pour in the mint cream. Do not forget to remove the mint leaves from the cream before pouring. 
4. Now, stir the mixture until it gets reduced to half. Sprinkle salt and pepper accordingly. The mint cream peas are now ready to be served with the slow cooked lamb shanks. 

How to serve? 

Take a clean plate and empty the vessel of slow cooked lamb shanks into it. Keep the minted peas alongside. You can have it with rice, crusty french bread, tortilla and so on. Do not forget to serve a glass of Pinot noir or any beverage of your choice. Scotch, vodka, tequila, or even beer if you wish. 

Winding up | slow cooked lamb shanks

I hope you are all set to cook this flavorsome dish. This is a must-try recipe if you are a sucker for red meats. Do share with us your way of eating lamb shanks. Also, feel free to suggest the name of a dish to share a quick and easy recipe for it.