Lamb Shanks With Apricots and Chickpeas

Cooked as written - very flavorful and rich. Added some lemon to brighten it up.

This turned out lovely. I don’t love turnips so I substituted for butternut squash which I put in 60 mins into the 90 min simmer. I used shoulder instead of shanks, and removed fat chunks by hand as I removed the bones. While the lamb cooled, I recommend cutting the sauce with ~1/4 cup of white wine vinegar or some other acid if the apricots’ sweetness is too much for your personal taste. Chickpeas only needed one tablespoon of olive oil to get crispy. Personally prefer to salt the oil upfront.

Followed the recipe exactly as written, but, Should have used shoulder cuts instead of the shanks..... Easiest to debone... other than that excellent

Absolutely divine, I used parsnips and lamb shanks as both are readily available in Australia and this was really delicious. I personally don’t think carrots would be as interesting, certainly less fragrant. And no need to brown the shanks first, this isn’t a good idea as the first step uses the boiled meat to make a flavoursome stock, and you run the risk of getting very tough meat. No adjustments needed for this recipe

Not enough acid, spices

The flavors in this dish are superb, but the recipe omits a step that, IMO, is critical for any good meat stew. When you pull the meat off the bones, use your fingers to get rid of fat and gristle, too. Your fingers will know what to do — they'll recognize the meat and easily distinguish everything else. That way your guest won't stick what looks like a yummy bite of lamb into her mouth, only to find herself chewing cartilage or boiled grease!

Peabody, thanks for the chuckle! Nice change from reading about all the substitutions and detours people make, as they claim to have made a recipe.

What's the best kind of ice cream for a "lamb shake"? Ba-nilla?

Wonderful. For the 2 of us I used 2 small shanks (about .75 lb. each), trimmed as much fat off of them before cooking, and covered with 6 cups of water. Skimmed impurities as it came to a boil. Followed the rest of the recipe with the full amounts, using about 1/2 lb. of carrots, 1/2 lb. of parsnips, and Turkish apricots. I did not remove shanks at step 3 but added the vegetables to the pot and cooked at least another hour until they were tender. Cooled overnight. Defatted before finishing. Wow!

Simply browned the lamb and added it back into the stock/vegetable mixture after sauteeing the veg. Simmered for 1.5 hours and the lamb was tender, although I would have liked to have let it simmer for 2 hours minimum. Added 1/2 tsp of cinnamon with the other flavourings. This will be my go to lamb shank dish from now on. Served over rice.

I thought this recipe was fabulous and freezes well.

Chickpeas and i are not friends, no matter how long i cook them, or what canned ones i've tried. What have others subbed for them?

It was our Thanksgiving dinner and its flavor combos made for a sweet-smelling house and happy diners. I'd definitely recommend doing the lamb a day ahead if possible -- the concentration of the sweet and savory is just so much greater.

My wife does not like lamb…would some sort of beef work as a substitute? Suggestions?

10/15/21 - delicious. Made 1/2 the recipe and still had several days of leftover. Parsnips ate very perfume-y /fragrant, would use carrots next times as recommended in the notes.