Jamie Oliver's Lamb Shank Pie

Jamie Jamie Jamie. What are we going to do with you? I really like your ideals about fresh and natural food, your TV shows where you make awesome dishes from the farm, and of course, your relaxed and silly attitude. Your cookbooks are great, a ton of recipes, beautiful pictures, neat ideas, and long intros describing what each dish means to you. You inspire Mandi and me to cook all the time. Unfortunately, we only have a 50% success rate with your recipes!!!!! FIFTY PERCENT!?!?! I would say, on average, we have about a 93% success rate doing anything in the kitchen. So what's the deal, Jamie? 50% is pretty dismal. Your good recipes are always amazing; we use your green curry paste all the time. But the ones that fell flat tend to feel unfinished to me. You were almost there, Jamie, why didn't you keep going? This dish in my opinion is an example of an unfinished recipe by him. If he took it a bit further, it could have been amazing. If the shanks braised a bit longer, or if there was a better balance of flavors, the end result could have been much better. As it currently stands in his book "Cook with Jamie" it is a one note meal with tough, chewy, gamey lamb shanks and not much flavor. It's a shame because it looks so cool

Ask your butcher to French the lamb shanks. It's a pain to do it yourself!

You guys know you need to wash leeks well right?

Butchering skills +2

That's a lotta aromatics!

You know the drill, sear them all around.

This is one thing I have had trouble with in previous Jamie recipes. Why does he love tomato puree so much???? Mix this around until combined. It is a few spoons of tomato puree, 3/4 of a bottle of wine, and 2 tbsp flour.

Cook 5 minutes, then add herbs.

Add wine mixture.

This cooked covered for an hour and a half. I think they should have gone longer, like way longer, but I had never cooked lamb shanks before, so I was blindly following the recipe.

Puff Pastry

Shanks after their hour and a half in the hot tub.

Cut Pastry into thin strips.

After you get all the shanks out, reduce the liquid for 15 minutes.

We had an extra shank, and the pieces of good looking meat from where I frenched them all. I broke this meat up and added it back into the sauce.

Some egg wash around the rim to form a seal.

We started making a bit of a criss cross, but then went crazy towards the end. Jamie even says to place them haphazardly.

More egg wash.

After 20 minutes at 350.

Doesn't it look really awesome??!? Too bad the inside is what counts.

MMM PURPLE.

It wasn't awful. I was satisfied after I ate it, but the lamb was not very tasty or tender and the sauce was lacking the complexity most sauces have when you slow cook meat in them.

I am not posting this recipe at the bottom for 3 reasons.

1. If you want the recipe, purchase the book "Cook with Jamie". It is a great book and worth buying despite this recipe.
2. If you REALLY want the recipe and don't want to buy "Cook with Jamie", I think you can tool it out from the pictures.
3. You don't want the recipe.