Braised beef shanks with garlic and wine

Beef Shanks Braised With Garlic And Wine

When was the last time you dined on beef shanks? Last week, last month, sometime in the last year? Don’t tell me you’ve never had beef shanks! You have to give them a try.

This is one of those bistro style meals. It is a great meal to fix while you are doing chores around the house. The oven does most of the work. By the time it’s ready, your mouth will be watering from the wonderful smell.

For the price of a few beef shanks and some wine, you can make your home smell like a cottage in the French countryside. Iʼll bet you didn’t even know that was something that you wanted to do. Trust me, you do. After you taste it, youʼll see why itʼs important to just do as I say.

4 beef shank portions - about 4-5 lb. 

(or a big thick pot roast)

1-1/2 bottles of merlot 

(this is a good place for ʻ2 Buck Chuckʼ)

30 cloves of garlic - peeled

2 stalks of celery - chopped fine

2 medium carrots - chopped fine

Pinch of herbs de provence

salt, pepper, ground cayenne

1/2 tsp. thyme

4 branches of fresh rosemary

1/2 lb. mushrooms - quartered 

1 tbs. room temperature butter

1 tbs flour

Preparation

Heat a large braising pan with a tight fitting lid. Add enough olive oil to coat the bottom. Brown the shanks on both sides. When you turn the shanks over, add the celery, carrots, the herbs de provence, thyme and sprinkle everything with salt, pepper and cayenne. 

Add the garlic cloves and the wine. Bring the wine to a boil. Cover and roast in a 350 degree oven for 2 hours. After two hours have passed, add the mushrooms and rosemary. Stir them down into the wine and roast, covered, for another half hour.

Stir the butter and flour together in a small bowl to form a paste. Remove the pan from the oven and place it on the stove. Put the shanks on a plate. Bring the sauce to boil. Add the butter flour paste and stir to dissolve it while the sauce simmers and thickens, for at least five minutes. Turn the heat off and place the shanks back in the sauce. Turn them a few times to coat them.

Serving

Place a beef shank on a plate next to a couple of roasted potatoes. Break up the potatoes  and cover the beef and potatoes with lots of the sauce. Make sure you get plenty of garlic cloves on them as well. 

Now add some buttered cauliflower, some warm homemade bread and butter and open a bottle of top quality Syrah. Iʼll tell you, I could eat all four servings myself. Itʼs a beautiful thing.