A pantry raid tonight, a pasta sauce tomorrow
Every ingredient in this one is either in your pantry right now or lasts for months in it — a bottle of passata, dried herbs, an onion, a spoon of sugar. The shanks go in raw, the sauce goes over the top, and eight hours later you've got lamb sliding off the bone in a rich tomato sugo that tastes like it simmered on an Italian nonna's stove all day. Which, in a way, it did. The bonus round: whatever sauce is left becomes tomorrow night's pasta dinner, and it might be the better meal of the two.
Ingredients
- 2 Your Farmer grass-fed lamb shanks
- 1 brown onion, finely diced
- 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- 700g bottle tomato passata
- 2 tsp dried Italian herbs (or 1 tsp each dried oregano and basil)
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp sugar
- Salt and pepper to season
- Pasta, polenta or mash, to serve
Instructions
Scatter the onion and garlic over the base of the slow cooker.
1 onion3 cloves garlicSeason the shanks well all over and sit them on top.
2 lamb shanksPour the passata over the shanks, add the dried herbs, bay leaves and sugar, and turn the shanks once or twice so they're coated.
700g passata2 tsp dried herbs2 bay leaves1 tsp sugarLid on. Cook on low for 8 hours, until the meat is leaving the bone.
Lift the shanks out and keep them warm under foil. Spoon off any fat sitting on top of the sauce, then turn the cooker to high and leave the lid off for 15 to 20 minutes to thicken. Fish out the bay leaves and season the sauce to taste.
Serve the shanks over pasta, polenta or mash with plenty of sauce — and set the rest of the sauce aside for tomorrow night's pasta.
pasta or mashAppears in
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The Cut That Makes Its Own Sugo
Tomato and time is the oldest trick in the Italian book, and the shank is the perfect partner for it. As the lamb's lower leg slowly gives up its collagen over eight hours, all that body goes straight into the passata — which is why this sauce ends up with a richness no jar can fake and no mince ragu can quite reach. The bone helps too: marrow seasons the sugo from the inside as it cooks. Grass-fed shanks make the difference here, because when the ingredient list is this short the lamb has to carry the flavour — and Your Farmer® lambs spend their whole lives on pasture, which is where that flavour is grown. It's the same reason we farm the way we do — how we farm tells that story properly.
Swaps and Variations
Two 400g tins of crushed tomatoes stand in for the passata — the sauce is a little chunkier, no worse for it. A handful of kalamata olives in the last half hour takes it south. Chilli flakes at the start suit the adults' half of the pot; a splash of red wine with the passata deepens the whole thing. Fresh rosemary or oregano works instead of dried — add it at the start, stalks and all, and pull the stalks at the end. The shanks come two to the pack in the Share B pack of our lamb subscription.
Storage and Leftovers
This is a two-dinner recipe by design. The shredded leftover meat and sauce keep 3 to 4 days in the fridge and freeze beautifully for up to 3 months — freeze the sauce flat in a zip bag and it thaws in minutes. Reheat gently on the stove with a splash of water. Tomorrow night: toss the sauce and shredded lamb through rigatoni with a handful of grated parmesan, and accept the compliments as though you cooked twice.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use tinned tomatoes instead of passata?
Won't the sauce be watery without any stock?
Can I cook it on high instead?
When do I add fresh herbs if I'm using them instead of dried?
What do I do with the leftover sauce?
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