A glorious winter warmer

I didn't realize what a great combo lamb and beans are until tonight. Loosely based on Hairy bikers and Yotam Ottolenghi's recipes, I slow cooked lamb shoulder with overnight soaked cannellini beans for two and half hours in the oven. The lamb shoulder, possibly my favorite meat, is reassuringly tender but the star tonight is the beans. After sitting quietly all this time in the same broth as lamb, onions, carrots and garlic, the beans become unbelievably creamy and sweet. So full of flavor, this is my best tasting beans so far. This is definitely a winter dish, a humble and glorious warmer for a cold night.

Cannellini beans and lamb stew

- lamb shoulder with or without bone, dusted with salt and pepper

- 250 g/1.5 cup dried cannellini beans, soaked in water (with 1 tsp of baking soda, optional) overnight

- 2 onions, roughly chopped

- 1 chunky carrot, 1-cm dice

- 4 garlic cloves, smashed

- splash of white wine (optional)

- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds

- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder

- 3 bay leaves

- 1/2 ground black pepper

- water or stock

- 3 tomatoes, quarters

Bring a pot of water to boil. Drain the soaked beans and put into the boiling water. Bring the pot back to boil. Turn off the heat while you prepare the lamb.

Put 1 tablespoon of oil in a casserole on medium heat. Sear the lamb shoulder all over. I grill the lamb shoulder as one piece, bone-in. Once the lamb picks up nice golden color, remove from the pan.

Next brown the onions, carrot, garlic in the same pan for a couple of minutes. Deglaze the pan with white wine if using. Otherwise, pour some water to remove the brown spots from the bottom of the pan. When there is almost no liquid left, put all spices (cumin, turmeric, bay leaves, black pepper) in. Cook/toast the spices for 1 minute.

Mix drained beans into the lamb. Pour enough water just to cover the beans. Season with 1 teaspoon of salt. Put the lid on and transfer to 140C oven for 2.5 hours. Rotate the casserole half way and remove the lid for the final 30 minutes and put the tomato quarters on top. Test the seasoning before serving.