Winning!

I was not a happy camper yesterday morning. Overnight, I'd fallen behind more than usual in the contest and was ready for a nice big glass of wine. It was 9 AM.

I crocked this instead:

"Beef Shanks Braised in Red Wine" (6 quart pot)

The original is HERE.

~olive oil
~2 (1 pound) bone-in, cross-cut beef shanks
~10 garlic cloves, chopped
~1 large onion, chopped
~1 c baby carrots
~1 c sliced mushrooms
~1 c cherry tomatoes, halved
~1 bay leaf
~3 sprigs of thyme
~2 c red wine (I used Gnarly Head Old Vine Zinfandel)
~4 c beef broth
~1 t pepper

Generously salt and pepper shanks on both sides and leave shanks out in room temp for about 30 minutes.
Heat a drizzle of oil in a pan on high heat and sear shanks until a dark brown crust forms, about 8 minutes each side.
Make it look like the house is on fire. (Optional. There was So. Much. Smoke.)
Place shanks into slow cooker.
Turn heat down to medium and in the same pan saute garlic, onions and carrots until onions begin to caramelize. (About 5 minutes.)
Add mushrooms and cherry tomatoes and continue to saute for another 5 minutes.
Add bay leaf and thyme.
Pour in wine and broth.
Add 1 tsp ground pepper.
Bring to a boil.
Lower heat and simmer until it is reduced to about ⅓ of the original amount, about 30 minutes.
Pour vegetables and sauce on top of the shanks in the slow cooker.
Cook for 8 hours on low.
Serve with mashed potatoes. (I used the leftover instant flakes from the meatballs I made last week.)
Garnish with green onions.

4 servings.

This was soooooooo good. My other half says that this was maybe one of the best meals ever. If this sounds yummy to you, you should totally go make it. The hardest part for me was hunting down the shanks. AND then trying not to down the rest of the bottle of wine.

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