Cherry and citrus-Braised lamb shanks (smart pot recipe)
Lamb shanks cook in a fruity citrusy braising liquid. This ultimate combination of flavors will create an incredible sauce that we will drizzle over the shanks and enjoy with every bite. Fancy recipe prepared in simplest and quickest way ever with the smart pot.
Servings 4servings
Equipment
pressure cooker or instant pot
smart pot
Ingredients
2tbspolive oil
4lamb shanks
Salt and pepper to season the lamb
1carrot finely chopped
1onion finely chopped
2leeks cut in half and finely chopped
1celery stickfinely chopped
1tbspfresh rosemaryfinely chopped
1bay leaf
3clovesgarlic minced
2tbsptomato paste
2tspsweet pepperall spices
2cupsapple cider vinegarI used a flavored one check notes for detail
1cupvegetable broth
1limejuice and zest
1lemonjuice and zest
1orangejuice and zest
1cupfresh or frozen cherriesstemmed and pitted (if frozen check notes)
Instructions
Step 01: sear the shanks
Season the shanks on both sides with salt and pepper. Set you smart pot to sauté/high program. Add oil. Working in batches sear your shanks from all sides (10 min in total). Set aside.
Step 02: prepare braising sauce
In the same pot, add some oil to stir the veggies. Add your carrots, onions, celery and leek. sauté for 2min. than add your cherries and stir for 5 minutes. Add rosemary, bay leaf, garlic and tomato paste with ½ tsp salt and the sweet pepper (all spices) and mix quickly. Add the apple cider vinegar, broth and the juice and zest of the lime and lemon (orange not now). Mix all together and bring to boil.
Step 03: cook the lamb shanks
After the sauce start to boil, return the lamb shanks t the pot. Close the lid and set to high pressure cooking for 30 minutes and let it naturally release the pressure for 15 minutes before releasing manually all the remain pressure and opening the pot lid.
Step 04: prepare the gravy
After the shanks are cooked, lay in a serving plate. and leave the liquid in the pot. set the pot again to sauté/medium program and let the liquid simmer for 10 minutes till it thicken a little. Add the orange zest and juice and mix.
Step 05: serve and enjoy!
Drizzle the orange sauce on the shanks and serve warm with some vermicelli rice aside. Enjoy!
Notes
Apple cider vinegar: I used instead of normal apple cider vinegar a flavored combination that went amazingly good in this recipe. It is the “organic larder rise&shine apple and cinnamon vinegar drink” try it out the cinnamon flavor added so much to the recipe and this drink have less acidity from the normal apple cider vinegar which gave it a closer taste to wine that we usually cook shanks in.
Cherry: you can use frozen or fresh cherry, whatever you have on hand or can find. In this recipe I used the frozen ones and turned out amazing. I normally use vachna cherry or wachna cherry. it is a type of cherry that have a sweet and sour taste, it is normally Turkish or Serbian cherry that you can find in the frozen section. But you can use any kind of cherries you can find.
Serving and storing: you can serve this dish with any side of your choice I like to serve it with some Lebanese vermicelli rice and you can also serve with some mashed potato puree. This recipe will stay fresh in the fridge for up to 4 days.