Recipe ~ Moroccan lamb shank and lentil soup

At the request of a lovely reader I'm sharing this hearty winter recipe

Moroccan lamb shank and lentil soup

Serves 4
Prep 20 minutes
Cook 2 hours 30 minutes

1 tablespoon olive oil
4 lamb shanks, trimmed of excess fat
1 brown onion, finely chopped
1 large carrot, peeled, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, trimmed, finely chopped
1 ½ tablespoons Moroccan spice mix (this is a Masterfoods blend)
1 cup tomato passata
1 litre salt-reduced chicken stock
1 ½ cups dried soup mix, rinsed (this can be found in the lentil, split pea section)
Chopped parsley leaves and crusty bread to serve

1. Heat oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan over medium to high heat.  Cook lamb in batches for five minutes or until browned.  Transfer to a plate. 
I chose to use lamb steaks instead to make it meatier and go further

2. Reduce heat to medium.  Add onion, carrot and celery.  Cook, stirring occasionally for five minutes or until soft.  Add spice mix.  Stir to combine.  Add passata, stock and 2 cups of cold water.  Return lamb and any juices to the pan.  Bring to the boil.  Reduce heat to low.  Cook, covered for 1 hour.

3. Add soup mix and 1 cup cold water to pan.  Cook covered for 1 hour or until lamb is tender.  Remove shanks.  Remove and discard bones and fat.  Roughly chop meat.  Return to soup.  Cook, stirring often for 15 minutes or until heated through.  Sprinkle soup with parsley.  Serve with crusty bread.

recipe from Super Food Ideas July issue page 42

The magazine says $5.22 per serve but wonder if that's due to the cost of the shanks.  Using mutton or lamb steaks would probably bring down the cost.  I also bought an organic passata which was also cheaper than the 'brand' name ones.  The parsley for us is free as we grow our own.