Braised Beef Shanks with Root Vegetables
The February issue of Better Homes & Gardens came, and it included several great looking recipes for cooking meat on the bone. It included this recipe for Beef Shanks with Mushrooms and Olives. It sounded good, but I ended up doing something a little different.
Beef Shanks with Root Vegetables
3 bone-in beef shanks (3+lbs)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, cut in large chunks
2 carrots, cut in chunks
1 celery root, cut in large chunks
2 large golden beets, large chunks
2-3 tbsp fresh rosemary
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup red wine
1 14oz can diced tomatoes
1 cup beef broth
4 oz oyster mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup gremolata (parsley, lemon zest, garlic)
potato gnocchi
crusty bread
I used a slow cooker, but you could also do this in a dutch oven baked in the oven.
1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add the beef shanks and brown on both sides. Once browned, season the shanks with salt and pepper and put them in the slow cooker.
2. Add onions, garlic, celery root, beets and carrots to the skillet and cook until the onions are soft. Add the vegetables to the slow cooker.
3. Deglaze the skillet with the red wine, scraping up any browned bits. Add the tomatoes and beef broth and bring to a boil before adding everything to the slow cooker. Add the rosemary to the slow cooker.
4. Cook on high setting in the slow cooker for about 5 hours (or low setting if you have more time)
5. Add the mushrooms to the slow cooker about 25 minutes before serving.
Make the gremolata by chopping about a quarter cup of parsley along with the zest of one lemon and some garlic. I like garlic a lot so I used 3 cloves of garlic, but probably 1-2 cloves would be enough for most people.
When ready to serve first remove the beef and vegetables to a serving dish with a slotted spoon and strain some of the cooking liquid into a sauce boat. To serve spoon some meat and vegetables over some gnocchi. Add some of the juices and top with a sprinkling of gremolata. Serve with a crusty bread to mop up the juices.
This could pretty much be made with any combination of root vegetables. Parsnips and turnips would probably work too. The boys really liked the celery root in this dish, so I would keep that if you can find it.
