Moroccan Braised Lamb Shanks with Soft Polenta

Preparation time: 30 mins
Cooking time: 4hours

Ingredients
- 3 Large Lamb shanks
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 2 onions
- 1 cup water
- 400g (1 can) diced tomatoes
- 400g chickpeas
- 3 cups spinach leaves
- 1/2 cup polenta
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 tbsp butter
- 3 tbsp grated Parmesan

Morrocan Spice Mix
- 2 tsps cumin
- 1 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsps crushes coriander seeds
- 1 1/2 tsps dried chilli

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160°C.
2. Saute garlic, onions and spice mix in olive oil until onions go translucent.
3. Add tomatoes and water and bring to the boil.
4. Place lamb shanks in an ovenproof dish and pour tomato mixture over the lamb and cover tightly with either aluminium foil or a lid so that the liquid does not evaporate. Cook for 2 hours.
5. Add chickpeas and then reduce temperature to 150°C, then cook for another 2 hours.
6. Half an hour before serving make the polenta by bringing the chicken stock to boil, then add the polenta in a thin stream, stirring constantly. If the mixture gets too dry too quickly, add extra water and cook over a medium heat for 10 minutes.
7. Stir butter and parmesan into polenta.
8. Take lamb out of the oven and stir through spinach leaves.
9. To serve, place half the polenta into each bowl then top with lamb shanks and some liquid from the casserole dish.