6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 lamb shanks
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3/4 pound mixed mushrooms (morels, shiitake, chanterelles, domestic), roughly chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 cup 1/4-inch diced onion
1/2 cup 1/4-inch diced carrot
1/2 cup 1/4-inch diced celery
2 cups dry red wine
1 bay leaf
3 cups chicken stock or low-salt canned chicken broth
3 cups peeled, seeded and chopped tomatoes (fresh or canned, depending on season)
1/2 pound dried orecchiette pasta
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh oregano

Preheat oven to 300¡F. In a large, deep, oven-going pot, heat 3 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat until hot. Season shanks with salt and pepper and brown on all sides, about 10 minutes. Remove to a plate.

Raise heat to medium-high, add mushrooms and do not move them until they begin to brown on undersides, about 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper, and sautŽ until browned all over, about 5 minutes. Remove to another plate.

Reduce heat to medium, add remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil to pot and heat until hot. Add garlic and sautŽ quickly until light brown. Add onion, carrot and celery, season with salt and pepper, and sautŽ until lightly browned, about 8 minutes.

Add wine and bay leaf, bring to a boil and cook until reduced by half. Add stock and chopped tomatoes and bring to a boil again. Season with salt and pepper. Return meat to pot, cover, and place in oven to braise until meat is fork tender, about 4 hours.

Let meat cool in liquid. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add salt. Add pasta and cook until al dente, about 12 minutes. Drain.

Pour braising liquids into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer about 10 minutes, skimming liquids all the while. Add basil and oregano.

To serve the shanks whole, return them to the sauce and simmer gently just until reheated, then remove and keep warm. Add mushrooms and pasta to sauce and heat gently until warm through. pour onto a large, deep platter or divide between plates and top with shanks.

Serves 4. Delicious paired with Silverado Vineyards Sangiovese.

Chef's Notes:

It is perfectly acceptable to do this dish a day ahead or even let it cook while you sleep. The meat can braise overnight, for example from midnight to 6:00 AM at 250¡F. You can also cook the whole dish on the stove top in a covered pot. There is a caramelization of flavors in oven braising that stove top cooking does not replicate. If the shanks are cracked--cut through the bone in the middle--they will cook through to tenderness more rapidly.

Variation:

If serving meat off the bone (which turns it into a pasta dish rather than meat on a bed of pasta), tear meat into big chunks and return it to the sauce with the mushrooms. Cook just until reheated. Add pasta and stir. Heat through. Taste for seasoning and serve immediately.

Recipe courtesy of Michael Chiarello, Chef, Tra Vigne, St. Helena, CA.
Recipe featured in The Tra Vigne Cookbook.

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