Slow Roasted Garlic-Thyme Lamb Shanks

I've been missing in action for the past few weeks, but as you know with good reason - we welcomed our third little girl into the world a few weeks ago. Mommyhood has been great! To celebrate Easter and honor Caribbean tradition I prepared one of my favorite dishes - LAMB. I'll eat lamb pretty much anyway you give it to me and to my delight the hubby AND the little ones devour it as well. We all cleaned our plates so I knew I just had to share the recipe with you. You need not wait for Easter to make this dish, you can enjoy any day you have some extra time on your hands or for a wonderful Sunday dinner with the family.

You can switch it up a bit and add a good tasting red wine to the pan and baste the lamb throughout the cooking process. In my case with 3 little ones in the house, basting wasn't on the table this time around. Cooking should be fun and omitting the basting gave me hands free time to rumble around with the kids.

Garlic & Thyme Lamb Shanks

Brine

8 Cups Water
1/4 cup + 2tbsp. Salt

Fresh Herb Rub

5 cloves garlic
5 sprigs fresh thyme
1 small onion
1 small pepper
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. olive oil

Lamb Shanks

2 lamb shanks, approx. 3 lbs.
3 stalks celery
3 large carrots
2 small onions
2 - 3 tbsp olive oil

First thing is to brine the lamb shanks overnight. Dissolve salt in the water and place lamb to marinade overnight or for at least 8 hours.

Combine ingredients for the herb spread and puree in a chopper or blender. Remove the lamb from the brine and discard brine, using a paper towel, pat the lamb dry and massage the herb spread all over the lamb and set aside for at least 4 hours.

Now comes the good part, let's down to business!

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a deep sauce pan and brown the lamb shanks on both sides, it will take about 4-5 minutes per side, because of the herb crust they can burn pretty quickly, so be sure to keep an eye on the shanks. Once you have finished browning the meat, remove them the pan and set aside. In the same pan (if the herbs got too brown you'll want to start again with a clean pot) add 1 tbsp of olive oil and saute the vegetables for about 3 minutes, then place the lamb shanks on top of the sauteed vegetables. Place the pot in the oven and bake at 285 degrees for 3 hours, then at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.

You can serve this with some roasted potatoes, spinach and sweet corn.

We loved this dish, the kids even asked for second...now that's a meal!