Greek-Style Lamb Stifado

Ingredients

• 800 g diced lamb shoulder, cut into 4cm pieces
• 200 ml lamb or beef stock
• Crusty sourdough bread, to serve
• 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• salt and black pepper
• 500 g shallots, peeled and left whole
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 4 whole cloves
• 3 garlic cloves, left whole and peeled
• 200 ml red wine
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 3 bay leaves
• Dressed green salad, to serve
• Fresh parsley, to serve

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C / 140°C fan / Gas 3. Pat the lamb properly dry — water means steam, and steam means no browning — then season generously with salt and black pepper.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large heavy casserole over a high heat until it shimmers. Brown the lamb in two batches, around 4 minutes a side, until a deep mahogany crust forms. Don't crowd the pan — all at once and the meat steams in its own juices instead of catching. Set the browned lamb aside on a plate.
3. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil and drop the heat to medium-high. Tip in the whole shallots and cook for 6–8 minutes, stirring now and then, until golden and starting to catch at the edges. Add the whole garlic cloves for the final 2 minutes — just until fragrant and pale gold. Watch them; burnt garlic turns the whole braise bitter.
4. Pour in the red wine and let it bubble hard for 3 minutes, scraping up every dark stuck bit from the base with a wooden spoon. That fond is the backbone of the stifado.
5. Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato purée and stock — the stock breaks the tomatoes down so they taste of fruit, not tin. Stir in the cinnamon stick, cloves, bay leaves and red wine vinegar. Return the lamb with any resting juices and nudge it under the liquid.
6. Bring to a gentle simmer, lid on tight, and transfer to the oven for 1 hour 45 minutes, stirring once at the halfway mark. The lamb should yield to a spoon and the shallots should be soft and sweet right through.
7. Lift the lid and return to the oven for a final 15 minutes — the sauce will darken and tighten into a glossy, clinging gravy. Fish out and discard the cinnamon stick, cloves and bay leaves. Taste, season, taste again — adjust the salt and pepper now, not at the table.
8. Spoon the lamb and shallots over hot orzo (or alongside crusty bread or roasted potatoes), scatter the parsley generously, and squeeze a lemon wedge over each plate — the acid cuts through the richness and lifts everything you've just built.