This recipe I found in "Cook it Slow" (The Australian Women's Weekly), my regular cookbook at the moment. It might look a bit sophisticated, since you have to make three things at a time, but when it comes to cooking, you realize that it's really very easy to make (just a bit time consuming).
And the most important thing is that you finally end up with a melt-in-mouth stew, that is in absolute harmony with the fresh and minty tzatziki sauce and juicy tomatoes.
Ingredients:
1/3 cup (80 ml) light olive oil
1,2 kg lamb shank (or 6 french-trimmed ones)
1 large brown onion (200 g) chopped finely
1 large carrot, chopped coarsely
1 stick celery (150 g), trimmed, chopped finely**
4 cloves garlic, chopped finely
2 cups (500 ml) chicken stock
1 cup (250 ml) white dry wine
2 tbsp tomato paste or puree
1/2 cup (100 g) pearl barley
1/2 cup (100 g) brown lentils
400 g canned chickpeas, drained, rinsed
4 sprigs thyme
1 cup (250 ml) water
** I omitted celery, since I'm not a big fan of it
Method:
Preheat oven to 120 C.
Trim excess fat from the shank, split it into few parts for convenience. Heat light olive oil in a pan, cook lamb until browned all over. Remove from the pan.
Add onion, garlic and carrot to the pan, cook, covered, over low heat, stirring occasionally, until soft.
Add stock, wine, tomato paste, barley (wash it well before adding), lentils, chickpeas and thyme, bring to the boil.
Transfer to the ovenproof dish of suitable size, add lamb.
Cover, cook in oven for 2 hours. Stir in the water, roast, covered, for 1 hour or until lamb is almost falling off the bone. Season to taste. You will get something like this:
Tzatziki:
1 average size cucumber (130 g)
1 cup (280 g) thick Greek yogurt
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tbsp fresh mint leaves
Finely grate the cucumber, I use this sort of a grater:
Squeeze excess liquid from the cucumber, finely chop the mint leaves. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl, season to taste.
Tomato salad:
4 medium roma tomatoes, coarsely chopped**
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
**I used few small ones
Combine tomato, juice, extra virgin olive oil and parsley in a small bowl (you can leave some parsley for sprinkling over the stew). You may add some fine sea salt if desired.
And finally, enjoy the combination of all three! Bon Appetit!
