SPICY & SWEET LAMB DRUMSTICKS

Components:

4 Lamb shanks

Olive oil or duck fat

1 red onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves

1 red pepper, coarsely chopped

(Remove the skin if you like- I use a potato peeler)

1 dried red chili, finely chopped

1 tsp Spanish sweet paprika

1 tsp Spanish smoked paprika

1-2 pieces cassia bark or cinnamon sticks

1 tsp dried Greek oregano

150ml red wine

400g tin Italian tomatoes

Stock, to cover

Honey, a generous drizzle

Sea salt

Toasted pine nuts

Process:

Heat up a spoonful of olive oil or duck fat in pot large enough to hold the lamb shanks. Brown the lamb on all sides and remove to a plate.

Put the onion, garlic and peppers, chili and oregano into the same pot. Lower the heat and cook the aromatics until they have softened- about 15 minutes.

Add the paprikas and cook for a further minute.

Place the shanks back into the pot. Splash in the wine and add the tomatoes too (I don’t bother chopping them). Add enough stock to submerge everything.

Cover the pot and simmer until the meats are tender and almost falling of the bones. It is important to cook everything very, very slowly. And patience is definitely required- mine took about 6 hours to reach the fork- tender stage. It is also a good idea to keep an eye on how the flavours are developing during cooking. You may want to remove the cassia or cinnamon once its reached the right point.

When everything is nice and tender leave it in a cool place until the next day.

When you are ready to serve the following day, scrape away most of the fat (leave some).

Put the pot over a low heat and reheat gradually. This dish needs to be reheated slowly- the meat is dense and takes time to heat through properly.

Once the temperature is right, drizzle over a generous amount of honey to flavour and sweeten the stew. Check for saltiness too.

Sprinkle over with pine nuts and parsley. Serves 4 carnivores.