Deconstructed lamb shanks – the Italian version

A dish of lovely rich lamb shanks, with a warming sauce, nestled up to smooth garlic mash is just delicious.  But if you make a huge supply of lamb shanks, then some variety is needed!  I have several options when faced with this dilemma - one is to head for Morroco via a tagine, the other is to turn to Italy for inspiration.

Italian lamb shanks

Previously prepared deconstructed lamb shanks (½ portion of the full recipe)

1 tin tomato passata (pureed and sieved tomatoes)
½ punnet cherry tomatoes
Basil pesto
Mozzarella cheese
Pasta – preferably pappadelle, but lasanga will also do

Take the frozen portion of lamb shanks out of the freezer a day ahead.   Once defrosted, add ½ - 1 tin of tomato passata, and reheat at 150 C for 1 hour.  Add about ½ punnet of halved cherry tomatoes and cook for another 10 mins, while you cook the pasta.

Here's one I prepared earlier!

Drain the pasta, reserving some of the pasta water.  Add to the lamb, along with a small amount of the cooking water if the sauce needs to loosen up a bit.  Cover with sliced fresh mozzarella and pop under the grill until the cheese is melted. 

Serve with a generous dollop of basil pesto.