This tasty offering was submitted by Keri C.

Beer Braised Grilled Lamb Shanks

4 lamb shanks, about 1 pound each (leave fat on)

1 bottle New Planet Amber Ale – extra bottle may be necessary for consumption, during cooking 🙂 

2 yellow onions, sliced thin

Chicken/beef stock (homemade is best, if commercial look for low-sodium varieties)

5-6 garlic cloves

1 tsp whole peppercorns

1 tsp whole Allspice

2-3 sprigs fresh rosemary, thyme, or other aromatic herb

Salt and pepper

 

Line bottom of slow cooker or dutch oven with onion slices. Place lamb shanks on top of layer of onions. Pour in beer. Add enough chicken or beef stock to cover lamb about 2/3 of the way. Add in whole peppercorns, whole allspice, garlic cloves, and rosemary or other aromatic herbs.

If using slow cooker, set to low heat for 8 hours, turning meat about 5 hours through cooking process.

If using dutch oven, turn heat to high and bring to a boil; cover and adjust heat so that the mixture simmers gently. Cook, turning every 30 minutes, until shanks are very tender (at least 2 hours but probably longer).

Remove shanks and onions and strain the sauce. Prepare your grill (preferably charcoal or wood fired to get smoke flavor, but gas can work too). Grill shanks until nicely browned all over, sprinkling them with salt and pepper and turning once so both sides are browned (if you need to you can refrigerate the shanks after the braising process and reheat later using the grilling step).

Meanwhile, heat the braising liquid on the stove to reduce it to amore sauce-like consistency (this will take more time if you used a slow cooker as less of the braising liquid will have evaporated). Only once it has reduced can you season it with salt and pepper. You can also thicken it with cornstarch at this time, if desired. You can also add other seasonings at this time (such as an acid like lemon juice, or other herbs/spices).

Serve grilled shanks (the meat should all but fall off the bone at this point) with sauce and onion slices, preferably with a big pile of mashed potatoes and more New Planet Amber Ale!

 Enjoy!