48-hour Sous Vide Lamb Shank

Anova Culinary

48-hour sous vide lamb shank with sweet potato mash and red wine and burnt butter deglaze reduction. Side salad of green apple, fennel, toasted walnuts and capers. For tougher cuts of meat like lamb shank, you can go all out at leave them in the sous vide machine for days. After 48 hours, this lamb is falling-off-the-bone tender.

Author

Christina Wylie

Christina Wylie is an award-winning writer, author, editor, food stylist, recipe creator, entrepreneur and radio host whose work has been featured in The Times & The Sunday Times, Time Out (Melbourne, Sydney, Hong Kong and Dubai), Traveler’s Digest, Fah Thai Magazine, Broadsheet, Wining & Dining and many other internationally renowned publications. In 2013, after almost a decade of working as an international journalist, Christina founded the online lifestyle magazine The GAB Magazine, for which she now leads a team of 60 writers based all across Australia. She then founded Samui Life Magazine in 2016. After working as a recipe creator for Anova Culinary for over a year, she signed a cookbook contract with the American-based, international publishing company Quarto. Her cookbook, titled The Sous Vide Kitchen: Techniques, Ideas, and More Than 100 Recipes to Cook at Home, was published worldwide in 2017. She wrote, styled, and photographed everything that you see within that book. In 2017 she opened her first restaurant, Bootlegger, in Koh Samui, Thailand. She is currently in the initial stages of launching Bootlegger 2 in Phuket in 2018, and is looking to open Bootlegger 3 in Bangkok in 2019. She is currently working towards stepping into the world of food and travel presenting. As an entrepreneur herself, Christina co-founded the charity initiative Project Gen Z in 2015 to teach orphaned Cambodian children entrepreneurial skills. A British expat born and raised in Hong Kong, Christina has worked across the globe, and has lived in Thailand, London, Hong Kong, Australia and South Africa over the years.

Prep Time: 01:00

Recipe Time: 48:00

Temperature : 143.6F / 62C

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Set the Anova Sous Vide Precision Cooker to 143ºF (62ºC).
  2. Put the lamb shanks into two bags with four sprigs of thyme per bag. Seal the bags using the water immersion technique or a vacuum sealer on the moist setting.
  3. Place the bags in the water bath and set the timer for 48 hours. Cover the water bath with plastic wrap to minimize water evaporation. Add water to the water bath, as needed, to keep the shanks submerged.
  4. About 45 minutes before the lamb is finished, heat the oven to 410ºF (210ºC).
  5. Place the sweet potatoes on a small baking sheet and transfer to the oven. Bake until soft, about 40 minutes.
  6. Meanwhile, prepare the salad: Combine the apple, fennel, and walnuts in a medium bowl. Toss with 4 tablespoons olive oil, lemon juice, and capers. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
  7. When the sweet potatoes are soft, remove from the oven. Peel off the skin and discard. Transfer sweet potato flesh to a medium bowl. Add the remaining tablespoon olive oil and, using a fork, mash until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Finishing Steps

  1. When the timer goes off, remove the bags from the water bath. Remove the shanks from the bags and pat very dry with paper towels.
  2. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When the butter stops foaming, add the shanks. Sear shanks until well-browned on all sides, 3 to 5 minutes total. Transfer to a platter and keep warm.
  3. Return the skillet to medium-high heat and add the red wine. Bring to a rapid simmer and reduce, stirring occasionally, until thickened into a sauce, about 5 minutes.
  4. Divide the mashed sweet potatoes between two serving plates. Top each serving with a lamb shank. Drizzle with the red wine reduction. Serve the salad on the side.