Braised Lamb with tomatoes, cannellini beans, and rosemary

Serves 6 You will need:

• Olive oil for frying

• 1.5kg lamb from leg or shoulder, cut into 3cm-4cm pieces

• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 2 onions, finely chopped

• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

• 1 carrot, finely diced

• 1 stick celery, finely diced

• 1 bay leaf

• 3 sprigs of rosemary

• 750g ripe tomatoes, peeled (see my Top Tip, left) and chopped

• 350ml white wine

• 350ml water

• 2 x 400g tins of cannellini beans

• Potatoes, to serve (optional)

1 Preheat the oven to 160°C, 320°F, Gas 3.

2 Heat a frying pan over a high heat. Drizzle a couple of tablespoons of olive oil into a frying pan and fry the lamb pieces, in batches, until they are golden brown on all sides, seasoning them with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper as you go.

3 Remove the browned lamb pieces to a casserole pot or saucepan and set aside. In the frying pan, fry the finely chopped onions, the finely chopped garlic, the finely diced carrots and the finely diced celery until they are golden brown, then season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add the onion, garlic, carrot and celery mixture to the meat you set aside earlier and then add the bay leaf, the rosemary sprigs, the chopped tomatoes, the white wine and the water.

4 Bring to a simmer, then cover with a lid and cook in the preheated oven for about 1-2 hours, or until the lamb is tender. Lamb leg meat will take about one hour to cook, but lamb shoulder will take a bit longer, perhaps one-and-a-half to two hours.

5 Drain the tinned cannellini beans and add them to the lamb for the last 15 minutes of cooking so that they heat up and absorb all the delicious flavours. Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Serve this dish piping hot as it is, or with some potatoes.