I was asked the other day if I had a dinner party ‘go to’ recipe. My first stumbling block with the question was do I have dinner parties? We have people over, for drinks, cheese platter, a meal… but do I call it a dinner party? I’m not sure. Maybe that’s what the term meant but now it brings to mind a perfectly set table and beautifully presented food, not my cooking, surely! And then do I have a go to? If I do it’s (broadly) meat and vegetables, unless they are very close friends and you order take away or make a big batch of bolognaise, because there’s no pressure or pretension. As I get older and wiser (at a sometimes seemingly slow pace), I am learning that having people over for a meal shouldn’t cause pressure, people are coming to just enjoy being together and we have people over to celebrate having them in our lives. I do very much like entertaining or having a dinner party or making a shared meal. There’s something wonderful and warming about having people over to share food, something that makes me feel that everything is ok in the world when you have people around your dining table. Maybe it’s just me?

Food served depends on the weather and what can be found at the supermarkets on any given day, given the unpredictability of sourcing some foods when living in the Middle East. On this particular occasion I decided on lamb shanks. One of our guests was not inclined to eating spicy food so on this cold night I thought a hearty meal like lamb shanks has no spices and isn’t a dry roast. The added plus is that I made so many lamb shanks (and those I made were so very big) that the next night we had lamb shank pasta with the leftovers. For anyone who has never used the lamb shank leftovers for a pasta ragu- do yourself a favour, it’s so delicious! In fact you could probably make the lamb shanks just for the purpose of making a lamb ragu, the time it takes for the cooking is long, but the flavour of such simple foods cooked is amazing

Due to the quantity of lamb shanks (I made 7 for 4 adults and 3 children, and I still had leftovers), I cooked them in my roasting dish with a double of layer of foil on top, but you could easily do them in the slow cooker (my slow cooker wouldn’t fit more than 5 smaller ones)

It’s not a pretty dish. There’s no ‘plating’ or garnishing that’s going to make lamb shanks on mash look fabulous, and I’m an at home cook so I’m not going to pretend to tell you it can be pretty. I served the lamb shanks with mash potato and steamed broccoli and green beans

For the leftover lamb shanks I cleared the meat off the bones and strained the cooking juices (discarding the vegetables the lamb was cooked with) and put them in a container in the fridge. To make the lamb and juices into a ragu

• add one tin of chopped tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons of tomato paste
• 2 cups of water, or beef stock, or a cup of wine and a cup of water
• This was then cooked for 45 minutes on a simmer and served with pasta (my preference being fettuccine)

Below I’ve given my recipe for lamb shanks. Like all my other recipes it’s easy to put together and it doesn’t require much checking once you’ve set it up. To make life easier it can make dinner for the next night too! My measurements aren’t specific as I add what I have and base quantities on the size of the vessel I’m using to cook the lamb in

I’m off now to prepare for a dinner gathering this evening, feeling blessed to have people in our lives to share food with

I hope you are loving easy food

SLOW COOKED LAMB SHANKS

Lamb shanks (I made one per adult and then the kids share 2, but these were so big that 2 adults shared one!)

2 carrots, sliced thickly

4 sticks celery, sliced thickly

2 onions, quartered

4 cloves garlic, bruised

4 sprigs rosemary

2 tins chopped tomatoes

1 cup red wine (optional)

2 cups stock (beef, vegetable, or if you’ve used wine you could add water but make sure you adjust your salt accordingly)

Salt (I use a good 1/2 Tbsp)

Large freezer bag with 4Tbsp flour, 2Tbsp oregano

My roasting dish can sit on a stove top, and I heat it up on the stove top with some olive oil in it

Place the lamb shanks, in batches, in the freezer bag and coat them with the flour mixture, make sure excess flour is shaken off

Once the roasting dish is hot, brown the lamb shanks in batches, then set them aside

After all the lamb shanks are browned add your chopped vegetables to the roasting dish, then the rosemary, and then the liquids

Return the lamb shanks to the roasting dish and carefully cover the dish with a double layer of aluminium foil

Place in the oven at 160 degrees Celsius for 4 hours. You will know they are cooked when the meat falls off the bone. If you are using the slow cooker place it on low for 8 hours

Serve with mash and greens