Lamb & Root Vegetable Braise

Ingredients

• 800 g lamb shoulder, cut into 5cm chunks
• salt and black pepper
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 300 ml lamb or chicken stock
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 1 large onion, diced
• 3 sprigs rosemary
• 200 ml red wine
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
• 2 parsnips, peeled and cut into chunks
• 2 turnips, peeled and cut into chunks
• crusty bread or mashed potato, to serve
• 15g flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C fan. Pat the lamb chunks dry with kitchen paper — water means steam, and steam means no browning — then season generously with salt and pepper. This is your foundation; under-season here and no amount of finishing salt will rescue it.
2. Heat the oil in a large casserole over high heat until it shimmers. Brown the lamb in two or three batches, about 5 minutes each, turning until every side is deeply mahogany. Don't crowd the pan — all at once and you'll boil the meat in its own juices instead of building the fond that makes this braise taste of itself. Lift each batch onto a plate as it's done.
3. Drop the heat to medium and add the onion to the same pot, scraping the brown stuck bits up with a wooden spoon as it softens — that's pure flavour, don't leave it behind. Cook for about 5 minutes until translucent and starting to catch at the edges.
4. Stir in the garlic and tomato purée and cook for 60–90 seconds, just until the garlic is fragrant and the purée darkens to a deep brick red. Watch it — burnt garlic turns the whole braise bitter, and you can't take it back.
5. Pour in the red wine and let it bubble hard for 2 minutes to cook off the raw alcohol — you want it smelling rich, not sharp. Add the stock, rosemary sprigs, and bay leaves, and let everything come together for a moment. The wine and stock are doing the work of breaking the tomato purée down into a proper sauce rather than a tinny paste.
6. Return the lamb and any juices to the pot along with the carrots, parsnips, and turnips. The liquid should come about halfway up the meat — top up with a splash more stock if needed.
7. Bring to a gentle simmer, cover, and transfer to the oven. Braise for 1 hour 45 minutes, until the lamb pulls apart easily with a spoon and a knife slides through the parsnips with no resistance.
8. Fish out the rosemary sprigs and bay leaves. Taste the sauce and season again — taste, season, taste again. The wine and long cook can flatten the salt, so adjust now, at the pot, not at the table.
9. Scatter the chopped parsley over the top and bring the casserole straight to the table with crusty bread or a bowl of mashed potato alongside for mopping up the wine-dark sauce.