Here is a different take on your Sunday roast. Lamb is a very popular meat in our house and when it comes to that special family meal then lamb wins 60% of the time, every time.

The Ingredients:

Braised shanks:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion
1 1/2 litres of hot water
200ml of Ginger Ale
4 whole cloves of garlic
4 lamb shanks
1 lamb stock cube
3 carrots chopped
2 tbsp of honey
6 pieces of crystallised stem ginger

Sweet chestnut mash:
5 large potatoes
1 tin of Chestnut purée
Maldon Sea Salt for seasoning
50g of unsalted butter

Cabbage leaves:
10 large savoy cabbage leaves
15g unsalted butter ( I used our own pork dripping )
Salt to season

Rich ginger sauce:
20g unsalted butter
1 tbsp plain flour
150ml of the rich broth from your casserole dish

The Make:

In a large casserole dish add olive oil, chopped onion and garlic cloves. Cook on a low heat for a few minutes until the onions become translucent. Remove the onion and garlic to a bowl. Now add the lamb shanks to the casserole dish on a medium heat and brown off each shank. Transfer the onion and garlic back into the casserole dish along with 200ml of ginger ale. Prepare lamb stock by adding 1 1/2 ltrs of hot water with a lamb stock cube and mix well. Add stock to casserole dish along with carrots, honey and crystallised ginger pieces. Bring to the boil and then transfer to the oven for 2 hrs at 150C fan oven.

Boil 5 large potatoes. Drain and mash the potatoes with butter and chestnut purée. Now season with salt to your liking and mix well.

Cut Savoy cabbage leaves into square pieces. Place in a saucepan of 100ml of hot water, cover and bring to the boil. Drain water off. Now add 15g of unsalted butter or pork dripping and a pinch of seasoning. Stir and set aside

For a rich ginger sauce set aside the carrots and lamb shanks onto a separate dish and blitz the remaining broth in the casserole dish. Pour approx 150ml of blitzed broth into a jug and set aside. Now create a roux by melting 20g of butter on a low heat and combining with the plain flour. Whisk until you have created a smooth paste. Now slowly combine your broth into the roux until you create a nice thick sauce. Add some finely diced stem ginger and bring sauce back to the heat, gently. Make sure you don’t burn your sauce.

Now it’s time to plate up. The meat will literally fall from the bone and is deliciously tender and full of flavour. Put four cabbage leaves onto a plate. Side with carrots. Place nice big chunks of lamb onto cabbage leaves. Now you can place chestnut mash into piping bag and pipe onto plate. And finally add the rich ginger broth sauce.

Enjoy.