Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1.2-1.4kg boned lamb shoulder
2 large onions, cut in wedges
3 carrots, peeled, cut into 3cm lengths
2 celery sticks, cut into 3cm lengths
2 bay leaves
150g miso
1 litre salt-reduced chicken or vegetable stock 1 large swede, peeled
3 medium kumara, peeled
3 medium potatoes, peeled
60ml milk
50g butter

Mum often made us shepherd’s pie with leftover roast lamb, minced through the old hand mincer. I didn’t love the texture of minced, cooked lamb, but I love slow-cooked lamb that just falls apart. While this recipe takes time to cook slowly it is very simple, has very little hands-on time and you are rewarded with fantastic slow-cooked flavours and texture heightened with a hit of miso.

Instructions

1.Heat the oven to 150°C.
2.Heat the olive oil in a large heavybased casserole dish over a high heat, brown the lamb all over then remove to a plate.
3.Add the onions, carrots, celery and bay leaves and toss in the oil.
4.Add the lamb back on top, skin side up, and remove from the heat.
5.In a jug combine 100g of the miso with some stock to loosen it, then pour over the lamb with the remaining stock.
6.Cover and cook in the oven for 3 hours, turning once.
7.When cooked, remove from the oven, and increase the oven heat to 180°C.
8.Use a slotted spoon to remove the lamb and vegetables from the dish, let them cool a little then shred the meat (discarding the skin if you wish) and put in a baking dish with the cooked veggies.
9.Bring the juices to the boil, boil for about 15 minutes until reduced by about two-thirds, then pour over the shredded meat.
10. Set aside.
11.Cut the swede into small chunks, cut the kumara into chunks twice the size, and finally cut the potatoes just smaller than the kumara – this way they all cook evenly without boiling them separately, which you can do, of course!
12.Bring to the boil in a pot of salted water and cook until all are tender when pierced with a knife.
13.If some feel they are cooked before the others, remove with a slotted spoon.
14.When all are cooked, drain and let them dry out in the colander.
15.Add the milk and butter to the saucepan and heat to melt the butter, then add the potatoes, kumara and swede back to the pan and mash well, adding the remaining 50g of miso paste.
16.Spoon the mash over the lamb and bake for 20 minutes (or longer if cooking from cold) until bubbling.

Recipes & Food Styling Fiona Smith / Photography Aaron McLean / Styling Fiona Lascelles

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