Mediterranean Lamb Shanks

• 4 lamb shanks
• 1 large eggplant
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 medium onions chopped
• 4 cloves large garlic
• 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 28 ounces can diced unsalted tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 12 pitted prunes
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 325 F
2. If you want a leaner meal then trim off excess fat from shanks.
3. Peel the eggplant and cut into 1 inch cubes by slicing it lengthwise first then cutting cubes.
4. Place eggplant in a strainer and coat with coarse salt. Let it stand for 5-10 minutes then rinse thorougly. This takes the bitterness out of eggplant.
5. Heat the olive oil in a large dutch oven on stove with medium-high heat.
6. Brown lamb shanks on all sides. This takes 5-8 minutes per shank. When I do this I can only do 2 at a time.
7. Place shanks on a plate when browned.
8. Lower heat to medium on the dutch oven and more oil if needed.
9. Saute onions for 2-3 minutes until they begin to brown.
10. Add garlic and eggplant and saute until eggplant softens and becomes opaque. This takes 6-8 minutes.
11. Add paprika, cumin, cinnamon, ginger and cayenne. Mix well.
12. Return shanks to dutch oven and nestle them in the vegetable mixture.
13. Add can of tomatoes including the juice and mix them in.
14. Sprinkle with salt.
15. You want the shanks fully covered with liquid so add water if necessary. You could use tomatoe juice instead of water if you want.
16. Bring to boil on stove top over high heat.
17. Turn off burner, cover dutch oven and place in oven.
18. Cook for 1 hour then take out and tuck prunes in among the shanks.
19. Put back in oven and cook for another hour. you can cook longer if you want just keep an eye to make sure liquid is ok. I don't usually cover for the second hour but you could.
20. If you use optional lemon juice mix it in when you add prunes or at end when you take lamb out of oven.

lamb shanks, eggplant, olive oil, onions, garlic, sweet paprika, ground cumin, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, cayenne pepper, tomatoes, salt, prunes, lemon juice

Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/mediterranean-lamb-shanks-5a354bf6ff2e7d346fdd7d18 (may not work)