Baked Lamb Shanks

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 lamb shanks
• 2 medium onions, sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 8 ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped (or the equivalent, canned)
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 2 cups hot water
• 1 cup canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Put the oil in a baking dish, add the lamb shanks, turn to coat evenly and bake 30 minutes, turning once.
3. Combine the onions with the allspice, nutmeg, salt and pepper, mix well, and spoon the mixture on top of the lamb shanks.
4. Combine the tomatoes with the oregano and spoon on top of the onion mixture.
5. Carefully pour the water around the shanks.
6. Turn the oven to 400 degrees and bake for 1 1/2 hours, or until meat is tender, basting occasionally.
7. If the dish begins to dry out, add more hot water.
8. Add chickpeas to the juices 10 minutes before the end of the cooking time.
9. Mix everything gently and spoon some sauce over each shank when serving.

olive oil, lamb shanks, onions, ground allspice, ground nutmeg, salt, pepper, tomatoes, oregano, water, chickpeas

Taken from cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/2415 (may not work)