Serves 4

Ingredients:
3 tbsp olive oil
4 frenched lamb shanks
2 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
2 cups Port wine
1 cup red wine
4 cups chicken stock
Roasted Garlic

Directions:
1. Heat oil in a medium Dutch oven over high heat until smoking.
2. Season the shanks with salt and pepper and sear until golden brown on all sides. Remove the shanks to a platter.
3. Reduce the heat to medium high and add the celery, carrots, and onions to the Dutch oven and cook until caramelized.
4. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
5. Add the Port and red wine and reduce by half.
6. Add the chicken stock, the roasted garlic, and the shanks, and bring to a boil.
7. Remove the Dutch oven from the stove, cover and bake in the oven for 2 hours or until tender.
8. Remove the shanks, strain sauce into a medium saucepan. Cook the sauce over high heat until it is reduced by half.
9. Serve the shanks topped with sauce.

If you like the eye appeal of a deep mahogany finish on the shanks, as seen here, you merely hold them in the Dutch oven, on low heat, until service time, which will deepen the color of the sauce. If you are going for the dark finish, you have to reduce the active cook time to 1 1/2 hours, and hold on low for up to another hour. Use an instant-read meat thermometer to make sure you don’t go over the doneness you prefer.