A typical dish from the southern French countryside. Lentils are combined with lamb shanks, red wine, and not much else, and they cook for a couple of hours. While becoming beyond tender, the lentils also absorb the flavors of the lamb, the wine, and the aromatics sprinkled among them. The result is a one-pot meal—a salad or a little bread, or both, would round things out nicely—that takes some time but little work or attention. Other cuts of meat you can use here: short ribs.

　　

Ingredients

makes 4 servings

　　3/4 pound dried lentils, rinsed and picked over

　　2 medium carrots, chopped

　　1 onion, chopped

　　4 fresh thyme sprigs or 1 teaspoon dried

　　1 tablespoon minced garlic

　　2 bay leaves

　　1 bottle dry red wine

　　4 lamb shanks

　　Salt and black pepper to taste

　　

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Combine the first 7 ingredients in a roasting pan or flameproof casserole and stir; bring to a boil on top of the stove, then nestle the lamb shanks among the lentils, cover the pan (aluminum foil will do), and put in the oven. Lower the heat to 350°F and cook, undisturbed, for about an hour.

　　

Step 2

Uncover and stir the lentils gently; season with salt and pepper. Re-cover and cook for about 1 hour more, until the lentils are very tender and the lamb begins to pull away from the bone; if at any point the mixture threatens to dry out, add more wine or water. And don’t worry about overcooking the lentils; just make sure the lamb is done.When the lamb is tender, uncover the pan, raise the heat to 400°F, and cook for another 15 minutes or so, just to brown the top a bit. Taste, adjust the seasoning, and serve or cool, cover, and refrigerate for up to a day before reheating.

　　The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman. © 2005 by Mark Bittman. Published by Broadway Books. All Rights Reserved.MARK BITTMAN is the author of the blockbuster The Best Recipes in the World (Broadway, 2005) and the classic bestseller How to Cook Everything, which has sold more than one million copies. He is also the coauthor, with Jean-Georges Vongerichten, of Simple to Spectacular and Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef. Mr. Bittman is a prolific writer, makes frequent appearances on radio and television, and is the host of The Best Recipes in the World, a 13-part series on public television. He lives in New York and Connecticut.