Spanish lamb with sherry, honey & peppers

This is very moreish dish with its sweet-savoury flavours and lovely depth, thanks to the addition of sherry! If you’re not keen on saffron then leave it out; you will end up with quite a different dish, but a good one, nonetheless.

SERVES 4-6 PREP 15 mins COOK 2 hrs 30mins A LITTLE EFFORT

1kg lamb shoulder, trimmed of excess fat, then cubed 1½ tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, roughly chopped

1 red pepper, halved, deseeded and sliced

1 yellow pepper, halved, deseeded and sliced

1 green pepper, halved, deseeded and sliced

2 garlic cloves, grated to a purée

½ tsp paprika

250ml medium sherry

250ml lamb stock generous pinch of saffron threads

1 tbsp sherry vinegar

1½ tbsp honey

1 tbsp finely chopped parsley, or chopped toasted blanched almonds cooked couscous, to serve 1 Make sure your lamb isn’t too damp – pat it dry with kitchen paper if you need to, otherwise it won’t colour well. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large casserole dish and brown the lamb over a high heat in batches (if you crowd the pan the meat will sweat and not brown). Remove with a slotted spoon as you go. When all the lamb is browned, add the remaining oil and cook the onion and peppers over a medium heat until the onion is golden and the vegetables are softened. Add the garlic and paprika, and cook for a further 1 min, then add the sherry and bring to a simmer.

2 Put all the lamb back in the pan, along with the stock, saffron, sherry vinegar and honey. Season and bring to just under the boil. Turn the heat down, cover the pan and leave to cook very gently for 2 hrs, turning the meat every so often.

3 In the last half hour of cooking time, remove the lid so that the sherry and stock can reduce. You want to end up with completely tender meat in a flavoursome gravy – how long this takes will depend on how wide your pan is so you may need to give it longer than 30 mins. Check the seasoning. You’re unlikely to need to adjust the vinegar or honey but you might want to sweeten the dish slightly. Scatter the parsley or almonds on top (or use both). Serve with the couscous.

GOOD TO KNOW vit c • 1 of 5-a-day

PER SERVING (6) 507 kcals • fat 32g • saturates 14g • carbs 12g • sugars 11g • fibre 3g • protein 32g • salt 0.3