METHOD

Preheat oven to 160˚C.

Place the pearl barley in a pot with 3 cups of water.
Add a good pinch of salt and bring to the boil.
Cook until the water has been absorbed and the barley has puffed and is tender with a little bite. About 25 minutes.
Drain if necessary and set aside.

Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven / oven proof pot with a lid.
Sear the lamb shanks in batches on all sides until golden brown.
Remove and set aside.

In the residual oil and lamb fat sauté the onion, carrot and celery until tender.
Add the garlic, rosemary and bay leaves and cook until fragrant.

Deglaze with the red wine or stock making sure to scrape up any stuck bits on the bottom of the pot.

Pour in the Denny Ready to Serve Soup and bring to a simmer.

Return the shanks to the pot. Nestle them in the liquid.
A 24cm Dutch oven works well but if your pot is quite wide just add a little extra wine or stock so that the liquid almost covers the shanks.

Place the lid on the pot and transfer to the oven and cook until the shanks are completely tender - about 2 hours, depending on their size.

Remove from the oven and add the cooked barley and sliced button mushrooms.
Stir into the sauce.

Simmer for a few minutes so the barley absorbs the braising liquid and the mushrooms cook through.

Scoop generous spoonfuls of the mushrooms and barley mixture into bowls and top with a shank per person.

Serve and enjoy!

Pressure cooking instructions:
If you would like to pressure cook the shanks:
Follow all the same instructions using your pressure cooker up until cooking in the oven.
You will need to sear the shanks in batches in the inner pot.
Nestle shanks and liquid in the pressure cooker and set to pressure cook on High Pressure for 50 minutes. Natural release for 10 minutes.
Then add the mushrooms and barley and simmer.