Lamb shank pie recipe

Billy Law
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Lamb shank pie recipe

A hearty, warming pie, chock-a-block with diced carrots, celery, onions, garlic, bay leaves, lamb shanks, and fresh thyme... all encased in a puff pastry blanket.

At a glance
  • Cuisine English
  • Recipe Type Main
  • Difficulty Easy
  • Preparation time 30 mins
  • Cooking time 150 mins
  • Serves 4 people
Ingredients
  • 4 lamb shanks
  • 4 tbsp plain (all-purpose) flour, for dusting
  • 4 tbsp olive oil
  • 40 g (1.4oz) butter
  • 3 carrots, diced
  • 2 celery stalks, diced
  • 2 onions, diced
  • 5 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
  • 250 ml (8.8fl oz) veal stock
  • 375 ml (13.2fl oz) red wine
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 3 sprigs thyme, leaves picked
  • 1 pinch salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  • 2 tbsp flat-leaf (Italian) parsley, finely chopped
  • 4 sheets puff pastry
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten for egg wash

Step-by-step

  1. Dust the lamb shanks with the flour, then shake off any excess flour. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat and brown the lamb shanks on all sides. Remove and set aside.
  2. Melt the butter in the same pot, then add the carrots, celery, onions and garlic, and saute for 5 minutes until caramelised. Pour in the veal stock to deglaze the pot, then return the lamb shanks to the pot. Pour in enough red wine until the lamb shanks are fully submerged (you'll need about half a bottle of wine, perhaps a bit more). Add the bay leaves and thyme, turn the heat down to low and braise the lamb shanks for 2 hours, or until the meat falls off the bone.
  3. Remove the lamb shanks from the pot and shred the meat off the bones, then return the meat to the pot. Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with parsley and mix well. Set the bones aside.
  4. Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Divide the lamb stew among 4 heatproof bowls, then insert a lamb bone upright in the centre of each bowl.
  5. Make a small hole in the centre of each pastry sheet, just big enough for the bone to slide through, then line up the hole over the bone and gently lower the pastry onto the bowl. Fold the corners of the pastry inward towards the bone, then pinch the pastry along the rim of the bowl to seal. Brush the pastry with the egg wash, then bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown.

Recipe taken from Have You Eaten? by Billy Law, published by Hardie Grant Books, £25. Available at all good bookshops and online here.

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