Slow roast lamb casserole

Right after Easter all the unsold lamb seems to be on half price sale. I'm making the most of it and buying whole shoulders and legs of lamb to slow roast so that it's soft and juicy and slips off the bone. Lamb goes well with strong flavours such as curry and ras el hanout as well as with slightly sweet accompaniments such as redcurrant jelly, dried apricots or other fruit. This recipe is with Ras el hanout and mandarin.

Ingredients

1 leg or 1 shoulder of lamb
6 large onions sliced
50g Ras el hanout paste
1 garlic bulb
6 large carrots in bite-sized chunks
2 x 400g tins chickpeas, drained and thoroughly rinsed
1 x 400g tin mandarin segments

Method

Slice all the onions into segments and peel and chop the carrots.

Heat a little oil in a large pan. When almost smoking hot add the lamb and brown all over. Now remove it from the heat, set it aside and reduce the heat. Leave the fat and juices in the pan.

Now fry the onions on a low heat, stirring regularly, until soft and golden. Adding a little water if they begin to stick. Meanwhile peel all the garlic cloves.

When the onions are soft and gooey toss in the carrots, whole garlic cloves, chickpeas, mandarin segments and ras el hanout paste and stir well.

Sink the meat into the mixture and bring to the boil. Once boiling put into the oven at 120C for 5-6 hours.