L. has not been a huge fan of lamb since the mutton lunches of his French Lycée days but he quite enjoyed this as well which I think speaks exactly to how delicious it was. You could use lamb stew meat for this but lamb shanks were on sale so I went that route.
I recommend making this the day before if you can. First, because stews always taste better the next day and second, because lamb is fatty and it is nice to be able to lift the congealed disk of fat off the top of the stew before reheating and eating.
This will make enough for 4 people for dinner and lunch for 1
2 lamb shanks (about 2 lbs total)
3 carrots, peeled, halved, and each half cut in thirds
3 parsnips, peeled, halved, and each half cut in thirds
2 large turnips, peeled and cut into 6 or 8 pieces depending on the size of the turnip
1 onion, peeled and cut into 8 pieces (they will come apart into individual "petals" during the cooking time)
4 potatoes, cut into pieces as close in size to everything else
1 cup red wine
1 cup chicken stock or water
1 Tbsp olive oil
Peel from 1/2 orange, cut into 4 pieces
2 bay leaves
Couple sprigs thyme
Salt and pepper
Salt and pepper the lamb shanks well on all sides.
Preheat the oven to 350.
Heat the oil on the stove top in an oven safe pan. Brown the meat on all sides, a couple of minutes a side.
Turn off the heat. Nestle all of the vegetables around the meat. Tuck in the peel, the thyme and the bay leaves. Salt the vegetables.
Pour over the wine and stock and place, covered in the oven. Bake for 2 hours until the lamb shanks are very tender and the vegetables velvety and soft.
Remove the lamb shanks from the pot and use a fork to shred the meat from the bone. Return to the pan and stir to combine with the vegetables.
Either serve as is or, as mentioned above, allow to chill overnight to remove some of the excess calories.
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