Crock pot dishes are great to make on the weekend, especially when you make a ton so you have leftovers throughout the week (give it up for easy week-night dinners!), and this crock pot shanks recipe is an easy but elegant go-to for an every day meal or a special occasion. The recipe is simple, delicious, and nutritious and can be prepared with beef or lamb shanks.. The bone and marrow of the shanks not only ups the nutrition ante, it also makes for a divine sauce to ladle over the beef before eating.
And save those bones! I freeze all the bones from the dishes I make until I have enough to make a big batch of nourishing bone broth (that’ll be a future post!).
WHAT YOU NEED 
Crockpot
2 Beef shanks
Chopped onion – 1 large or 1-2 cups
Chopped garlic – 4-6 cloves or 2-3 Tbsp
Diced tomatoes – 1 box or 3 cups
Tomato paste – 1 small jar
Red wine – 1 cup, drink the rest :)
1-2 Tbsp butter or ghee
Rosemary – about 2-3 sprigs or 2 tsp dried
Salt, pepper
WHAT YOU DO
Brown shanks in 1 Tbsp butter or ghee (I forgot this step! So I just put the unbrowned shanks in the crock pot, no harm done and still freaking delicious).
Place shanks in crock-pot
Saute onions in same pan (add an additional 1 Tbsp butter or ghee if necessary) until browned
Add garlic and saute another minute
Add red wine and bring to a simmer
Use a spatula to break up the browned bits off the bottom of the skillet
Simmer (with some occasional scraping) for about 5 minutes then dump everything on top of shanks
Dump tomatoes and tomato paste on top of the shanks and onions (you can stir in the paste but it’s not necessary)
Toss on your sprigs of rosemary and some salt and pepper.
Put on low for 8-10 hours or high for 4-6 hours
Drinking the remaining wine may be the best part of the meal :)
Enjoy the wonderful aromas all day.
It’ll stay wonderfully delicious on warm, too, so don’t worry if you’re not ready to eat when it’s done.
When you are ready…DIG IN!
I threw in some kale to wilt at the very end the last time I made this because we had so much – I prefer it sans kale, though!
And enjoy your delicious, home-cooked with love meal with the rest of the wine :)
