Plain and simple lamb stew

This is the world’s most bog-standard stewy/casserole thing and while I realise that it sounds very plain and boring it’s actually rather tasty and great to just pull out of the fridge to heat up after a long day.

I usually use leg stakes as they’re just really easy but my favourite thing about stew is you can chuck absolutely anything in and it doesn’t matter.

Sooo…
Lamb
Carrots
New potatoes
An onion
Garlic
Lamb stock
Herbs of your choice (because I’m generous like that)

Heat the oven at 150°c and roughly chop up half an onion and three cloves of garlic. If, like me, you love the stuff - or you’re just worried about Dracula touching you up in your sleep - shove in a bit more. Though if you’re like me after a glass of cava and just want anyone to touch you up at all use a bit less. Either way brown these quite well in a pan and throw them in a casserole dish.

Handy tip that may not work: I weirdly find that if I wash my hands in cold water rather than hot the smell of garlic pretty much disappears rather than lingering around for the next three weeks.

Cut the lamb in to biggish chunks and brown these in the pan really well too.

Round the carrots and half the new potatoes and these go in the casserole dish with everything else.

I only use a small amount of water when I dissolve the stock cube as the meat seems to be tenderer if there’s less liquid. This goes in the casserole dish with the herbs and then the whole thing goes in the oven for three or four hours.

I tend to put the lid on my casserole dish askew so that there’s a bit of a gap. It doesn’t seem to dry up but the lamb seems softer and the whole thing a bit thicker.