Recipe for spring lamb shanks with artichoke hearts

I had planned a rich dark casserole of lamb shanks for dinner, which suddenly lost all its appeal. And having just returned to London, there was nothing summery in the freezer to bring to the rescue.

I couldn't bear the thought of browning and caramelising onions, carrots, celery and tomatoes. Fresh, pale green things were required to accompany the young lamb. In the end, I used salad potatoes, frozen peas and canned artichoke hearts, and instead of red wine, a generous splash of fino sherry. The result perfectly matched a late summer evening as the sun began to sink.

That weather turned my thoughts to picnic sandwiches and bread. In Malta, from where we have just returned, the seventh of June commemorates what is commonly known as bread riots day. Sette Giugno, 1919, marks the day when British troops fired on a crowd of Maltese demonstrating against food price rises, killing four. Ever since then, the standard Maltese loaf, the hobza tal-Malti, has been price regulated, and today costs about €1.10; a bargain for this large crusty sourdough loaf, baked in a wood-fired oven such as I buy from my local bakery on Gozo.

Bread has always been one of my favourite foods, which I ascribe to the aroma, texture and flavour of the three large loaves my mother would bake every Friday; and to the tomato sandwiches she would make for cricket match teas on a June afternoon in our Yorkshire village. I can still smell the calor gas burner under the huge, steaming aluminium kettle.

Maltese bread (Image: Courtesy of Frances Bissell)

Just occasionally, you will have a few slices at the end of the loaf. It is far too good to turn into bread crumbs. Everyone knows how to make summer pudding, but there are many alternatives; açorda from Portugal - a thick bread and egg soup with plenty of olive oil and coriander and a splash of vinegar; panzanella - a deliciously refreshing bread and tomato salad; muffuletta - a most heroic sandwich made with a split flat loaf, filled with, for example, sliced Gruyère, salami, prosciutto, cooked ham and pickled vegetables, giardinera-style.

Wrap it tightly, press it down for a while, then unwrap and serve this New Orleans invention in wedges like a cake. Tomato pudding - made just like a summer pudding; strata or breakfast casserole - thick sourdough slices layered with savoury instead of sweet, soaked in an egg/milk mixture and baked as a bread and butter pudding.

A serious sandwich (Image: Courtesy of Frances Bissell)

And do not forget French toast - for another version substitute amontillado or fino sherry for the milk and serve dusted with icing sugar and a dash of Pedro Ximenez sherry for a dish of torrijas.

Pa amb tomaquet, pa amb oli and pan bagna are all versions of the same thing; country bread rubbed with olive oil, garlic and ripe tomato. In Malta, tuna, tomato kunserva, olives, capers, sweet onions and olive oil make up the almost national dish of hobz biz zejt, bread with oil.

Spring lamb with potatoes mint and artichokes (Image: Courtesy of Frances Bissell)

Spring lamb shanks

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon flour

½ teaspoon each nutmeg or mace, ground pepper and salt

1 teaspoon English mustard powder

2 or 3 young lamb shanks

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil or sunflower oil

6 shallots, peeled and halved

4 sprigs of mint, leaves removed

200 ml fino sherry

8 potatoes, good size Charlottes are perfect, halved or quartered.

8 cooked artichoke hearts, fresh or from a can

200 g peas, fresh or frozen

Method:

Put the dry ingredients in a paper bag, and shake the lamb shanks until coated with seasoned flour.

Heat the oil in a large heavy frying pan, and gently fry the shallots without browning them and tip them into a large casserole. Fry the meaty side of the lamb shanks just until the rawness is removed. Again, do not brown the meat. Transfer the shanks to the casserole, together with the mint stalks. Pour the fino into the frying pan, bring to the boil, scraping up any residue stuck to the pan and pour over the lamb and shallots.

Cover with the lid, and cook in the middle of the oven at 180C, or on top of the stove on the lowest possible heat for about 1 ½  hours, or until the meat is becoming tender. You may need to add a little water or stock to prevent the meat from sticking, but it is not a very wet dish. At this point add the potatoes, tucking them around and under the meat.

Cook until the potatoes are done. About 15 minutes before the end of cooking, carefully remove lamb shanks from the pot. Take the meat off the bone and return it to the casserole together with the artichoke hearts and the peas. Remove the mint stalks and add half the mint leaves, finely chopped. Put back on the heat for a few minutes to cook the peas and artichoke.

Scatter on the rest of the mint when you serve the lamb and vegetables.

©Frances Bissell 2023. All rights reserved.