French Lamb Casserole

Ingredients

• 1kg lamb, diced, trimmed of fat
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1-2 tsp. thyme
• 1-2 tsp. rosemary
• 3 cups beef stock
• 80g tomato paste
• 4-5 cloves garlic, crushed
• 3 large carrots cut into chunks
• 160g med mushrooms
• 1 cup frozen peas
• Handful chopped parsley
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 cup white wine
• 1½ cups water
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tbsp. brown sugar
• 2-3 tbsp. cornflour
• 8-10 shallots, peeled, leave whole or halved
• 2-3 large potatoes cut into chunks

Method

1. 1Turn on your slow cooker.
2. 2Heat a fry pan with olive oil. In batches sear your meat for a couple of mins and place into slow cooker. Add sliced onion, thyme, rosemary, garlic, white wine, stock, 1 cup water, shallots, and tomato paste. Simmer on low heat for a few hours. After 4 hours add carrots, potato and mushrooms. If needed you can add some more water and herbs. Simmer a further 2-3 hours.
3. 3Towards the end add peas, parsley then mix cornflour with ½ cup cold water and pour into casserole, stirring. This should thicken; repeat if you like a very thick sauce.
4. 4This can cook as long as you like, even overnight, the longer the better for all the flavours to develop.
5. 5Freeze any leftovers for a meal another time.