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3 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Place all the ingredients in a large food processor fitted with the chopping blade; pulse until chopped, then process until pasty but still a little coarse.

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For more lamb dishes, check out Lamb and Wild Rice Soup, Lamb Ragù, Pastitsio, and Lamb Byriani.

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Braised Lamb Shanks

Now we come to it, the ultimate braised dish. You sear the succulent meat in a fiery-hot oven, then build the sauce in the pan and let the meat’s natural juices do the work in a lower-heat oven. Use a large ladle to get the shanks out of the pot so the meat doesn’t fall off the bones. You’ll also need a large oven casserole or Dutch oven—a heavy, huge pot that can go from oven to stovetop. Makes 6 servings

Six 1¼-pound lamb shanks

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 cup white wine or dry vermouth

18 pearl onions, peeled

6 Roma or plum tomatoes, chopped

2 medium carrots, peeled and thinly sliced

1 celery rib, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 cups chicken broth

2 teaspoons stemmed thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme

2 teaspoons chopped rosemary leaves or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed

2 bay leaves

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour mashed with 2 tablespoons room temperature unsalted butter in a small bowl until smooth

Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 475°F.

Toss the shanks, olive oil, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Pour into a large Dutch oven or very large, heavy-duty oven casserole. Roast in the oven until the shanks are well browned, about 35 minutes, turning several times.

Remove the pot from the oven and decrease the oven’s temperature to 350°F. Set the pot over medium heat. Pour in the wine and stir to scrape up all the browned bits in the pot, bringing the wine to a full simmer. Remember that the pot itself is very hot!

Stir in the onions, tomatoes, carrots, celery, garlic, broth, thyme, rosemary, and bay leaves. Bring the sauce to a simmer.

Cover and return the pot to the oven. Bake until the meat is falling off the bones, stirring gently once in a while to make sure each shank has been submerged in the sauce, about 1½ hours.

Whisk the flour-butter mixture into the pot until fully dissolved, cover again, and bake until the sauce has thickened, about 5 minutes. Discard the bay leaves. Serve the shanks in deep bowls with lots of the sauce ladled around them.

Variations: Substitute parsnips for the carrots.

Add 2 medium baking potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-inch pieces, with the onions and other ingredients.

Stir in 2 tablespoons tomato paste with the broth until the sauce is smooth before baking.

Lamb, Potato, and Greens Stew

We’ve crossed a Brazilian stew (caldo verde) with a traditional Irish preparation to come up with a winter warmer stocked with greens and potatoes. The secret to a great lamb stew? Never brown the meat; let it tenderize and soften in the soup at a gentle boil. Makes 6 servings

1½ pounds lamb stew meat

1 quart (4 cups) chicken broth

3 large leeks, white and pale green parts only, halved, carefully washed of any sand in the inner layers, and sliced into thin half-moons

1 tablespoon stemmed thyme or 2 teaspoons dried thyme

1 medium baking potato (about 8 ounces), peeled

1 large bunch collard greens (6 to 8 leaves), washed, stemmed, and chopped

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Place the lamb in a medium saucepan, cover with cold water to a depth of 2 inches, and bring to a boil over high heat. Cook for 10 minutes, skimming the fat and foam off the pot once or twice. Drain and rinse the meat under cold water.

Pour the broth into a large saucepan or pot; bring to a simmer over high heat. Add the leeks and thyme. Simmer for 10 minutes, then add the lamb. Partially cover the pot, reduce the heat to low, and simmer slowly for 35 minutes, skimming off any fat and foam.

Grate the potato into the pot using the large holes of a box grater. Stir well, cover,