This is a perfect dinner! Rehydrating dried chillies in apple juice with raisins, this releases their spice and heat, infuses them with a sticky sweetness which is lamb’s best combo!
Ingredients
4 Porky Down lamb shanks
2-3 smoked ancho chillies
1 large handful of raisins
285ml unsweetened apple juice
olive oil
3 red onions
8 cloves of garlic
2-3 fresh red chillies
1 heaped teaspoon smoked paprika
3 fresh bay leaves
2-4 sprigs of fresh rosemary
400g plum tomatoes
750ml of water
Method
1. Preheat your oven to 220C.
2. Put the dried chillies, raisins and apple juice in a bowl and then set aside.
3. Put your Porky Down lamb shanks in a roasting tray, then rub these all over with oil, sea salt and black pepper. Now you can put them in the oven for 20 minutes.
4. Peel and finely chop the onions and garlic and then halve and deseed the chillies.
5. Add a lug of olive oil, the onions, garlic, fresh chilli, smoked paprika, bay leaves and rosemary to a casserole pan and put it on medium heat. Leave this for around 10 minutes.
6. Once the onions have softened, put the rehydrated chillies and raisins into a food processor along with any leftover apple juice, blitz it until you have a paste and then stir this into your onions.
7. Take your shanks out of the oven and turn it down to 140C.
8. Add the shanks to the casserole pan, also add your tinned tomatoes and 750ml of water.
9. Stir everything together, cover and place it into the oven to stew for 3 hours or until the meat is falling off the bone and the sauce is thick, topping up with water occasionally.
10. Take it out the oven ad season with sea salt and black pepper and a dash of vinegar.
11. Serve and enjoy!