Lamb Shank Soup

Oh My Golly. This stuff is delicious and delectable and delightful and seriously good winter comfort food.


Lamb Shank Soup - serves 4

3 frenched lamb shanks (don't both buying the unfrenched ones, the fat is a biatch to trim off)
2 big carrots - diced
1 big brown onion - diced chunky
a teaspoon of crushed garlic
5 sticks of celery and their leaves - diced chunky, leaves chopped smallish
3 bay leaves
a sprig of fresh rosemary or a shake of dried (go easy on this one)
1 litre of vegetable stock (have some more on hand for later, maybe another litre, I used stock powder)
2 handfuls of small pasta shells
olive oil

1. Brown the shanks off in a fry pan in some olive oil for a few minutes, don't be really fussy about it, just brown what bits touch the pan easily.
2. In a big pot you can use to stew it all on the stove (I used a 6 litre casserole pan) gently fry the onion, garlic, celery and carrot. Shove over to one side or pop it in another dish.
   
3. Put shanks on bottom of the big pot, cover with the carrot mix and pour enough stock to almost cover the shanks.
   
4. Add bay leaves and rosemary and bring to a gentle boil.
5. Put stove on simmer and leave it all alone for 45mins and then come back and stir, ladle liquid over the sticky-up bits of the shanks. Go away again.
6. Come back after total cooking time equals 1.5hrs and, using a sharp knife and tongs, take out each shank and chop the juicy, falling-off-the-bone-anyway-meat off the bones and return to the soup. Top up with at least a cup of vege stock (make it hot before you add to pot).
   
7. Go away again for another 45 mins.
8. Turn the heat up to med-low and add pasta in pot with another cup of vege stock. Cook til the pasta is aldente. This will take about 12-15mins and you will need to stay close to ensure non-pot-stickage.
9. Serve with crusty bread if you feel like it. It's a meal in itself.

We are going to be eating this a lot! Next time, I think I'll double the ingredients, add less liquid and cook it in the slow cooker.

On other news, our appointment with the FS to get the IVF ball rolling is tomorrow. Am nervy and my footsies is freezing.

I have been plodding away at my lit review, slowly but surely - I did find an excellent procrastination hack which I have been using. To my great delight it works!

And I found this site which is just weird www.aliensandchildren.org