Lamb Shanks With Apricots and Chickpeas Recipe (2024)

RE: @OH: Great suggestion. Carrots, IMHO, would work better than parsnips. Several Indian recipes use carrot puree as a curry thickener, which complements tomato-and-onion-based meat dishes nicely with its sweetness.

I used lamb stew meat (shanks were prohibitively expensive) and combined this recipe with the Tagine-Style Lamb Stew recipe. Added raisins, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, rosewater and preserved lemons (peel and rind). Yes, I deserved to be admonished because I did a terrible job at following the recipe. But it was a wonderful inspiration and my Moroccan-inspired lamb stew turned out to be one of my favorites. I never would've thought to use dried apricots and raisins in a stew. Thank you.

Parsnips are difficult to get where I live. May I sub carrots? Suggestions?

Parsnips are often called "white carrots", but they have a somewhat different flavor. IMO, they're totally interchangeable. I'd call them different but equal. It's inexcusable that parsnips are so much more expensive than carrots. They're no harder to grow and store equally well. Therefore, I'd probably use carrots even though parsnips are readily available.

Sure. Easy. No need to precook the shanks. Just follow the recipe from Step 2 - and cook on high pressure with only *1* cup water for 75 minutes. Do a 20 minute natural release.Remove the shanks (and debone if you'd like) - add the parsnips and cook on high pressure for 5 minutes with a quick release. Add lamb meat back to warm and check for seasoning.

I’m used to browning before braising. Would that be a mistake here?

OH re your question about using carrots in place of parsnips, I don't see why you couldn't do that. The two root veg are botanically related but parsnips are maybe a little earthier, warm spice complementing flavor where carrots are a little sweeter and brighter in flavor. I don't see why you couldn't substitute if you need to to make this. And if you have a market that sells multi color carrots you could use those too.

I made the entire dinner last night after cooking the lamb shanks the day before and resting them in the fridge overnight. Wonderful flavor profile and loved the parsnips - they’re very sweet and actually look like bones! Carrot salad was fabulous with perfect seasoning and then the Ginger Molasses cake was great too, it would have been dry without the whipping cream. Served this with a 2016 CDP.

Stephanie, lamb has a very different flavor profile from veal - I'd use the veal shanks for osso bucco instead. (Try the Dorie Greenspan recipe in NYT cooking.) Sam's Club or Costco usually have lamb shanks, if you have one nearby.

I also don't understand why you wouldn't brown the shanks before braising. Doesn't it make a difference here, or is there a real downside?

You can certainly substitute carrots for parsnips. They'd be just fine.

This turned out lovely. I don’t love turnips so I substituted for butternut squash which I put in 60 mins into the 90 min simmer. I used shoulder instead of shanks, and removed fat chunks by hand as I removed the bones. While the lamb cooled, I recommend cutting the sauce with ~1/4 cup of white wine vinegar or some other acid if the apricots’ sweetness is too much for your personal taste. Chickpeas only needed one tablespoon of olive oil to get crispy. Personally prefer to salt the oil upfront.

Followed the recipe exactly as written, but, Should have used shoulder cuts instead of the shanks..... Easiest to debone... other than that excellent

Absolutely divine, I used parsnips and lamb shanks as both are readily available in Australia and this was really delicious. I personally don’t think carrots would be as interesting, certainly less fragrant. And no need to brown the shanks first, this isn’t a good idea as the first step uses the boiled meat to make a flavoursome stock, and you run the risk of getting very tough meat. No adjustments needed for this recipe

Not enough acid, spices

The flavors in this dish are superb, but the recipe omits a step that, IMO, is critical for any good meat stew. When you pull the meat off the bones, use your fingers to get rid of fat and gristle, too. Your fingers will know what to do — they'll recognize the meat and easily distinguish everything else. That way your guest won't stick what looks like a yummy bite of lamb into her mouth, only to find herself chewing cartilage or boiled grease!

Peabody, thanks for the chuckle! Nice change from reading about all the substitutions and detours people make, as they claim to have made a recipe.

What's the best kind of ice cream for a "lamb shake"? Ba-nilla?

Wonderful. For the 2 of us I used 2 small shanks (about .75 lb. each), trimmed as much fat off of them before cooking, and covered with 6 cups of water. Skimmed impurities as it came to a boil. Followed the rest of the recipe with the full amounts, using about 1/2 lb. of carrots, 1/2 lb. of parsnips, and Turkish apricots. I did not remove shanks at step 3 but added the vegetables to the pot and cooked at least another hour until they were tender. Cooled overnight. Defatted before finishing. Wow!

Simply browned the lamb and added it back into the stock/vegetable mixture after sauteeing the veg. Simmered for 1.5 hours and the lamb was tender, although I would have liked to have let it simmer for 2 hours minimum. Added 1/2 tsp of cinnamon with the other flavourings. This will be my go to lamb shank dish from now on. Served over rice.

I thought this recipe was fabulous and freezes well.

Chickpeas and i are not friends, no matter how long i cook them, or what canned ones i've tried. What have others subbed for them?

It was our Thanksgiving dinner and its flavor combos made for a sweet-smelling house and happy diners. I'd definitely recommend doing the lamb a day ahead if possible -- the concentration of the sweet and savory is just so much greater.

My wife does not like lamb…would some sort of beef work as a substitute? Suggestions?

10/15/21 - delicious. Made 1/2 the recipe and still had several days of leftover. Parsnips ate very perfume-y /fragrant, would use carrots next times as recommended in the notes.

A yummy but rather expensive dish, given the price of lamb shanks. I only used three to save a bit of money. I wonder if adding a bit of heat to the dish would improve it. I appreciated that the dish is fairly easy to make.