An Afternoon with Matthew Evans

Lamb braised with saffron in the Sardinian style (serves 6)

I don’t know where I first heard of this dish, but I was in a Sardinian frame of mind and I had lamb, I had saffron, and I had potatoes. It tastes kind of like a goulash of the Mediterranean.

2-3 tbsp olive oil
1 kg diced lamb shoulder
2 large brown onions peeled and cut into rough 3cm cubes
5 cloves garlic,
crushed good handful parsley,
chopped about 200mls passata, or use tinned tomatoes that have been pureed a generous pinch saffron, ideally soaked overnight in a tablespoon of water
2 tsp dried Greek oregano or use 1 tbsp fresh oregano
500g waxy potatoes, such as dutch cream or nicola, peeled and cut into chunks

Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a big, heavy based saucepan over a cracking heat and add about half the meat and brown it well.
Remove with a slotted spoon and repeat with the remaining meat. Remove that too, turn the heat down to about medium and fry the onion well until just starting to brown, drizzling in more oil if need be and stirring a lot as it cooks.
Add the garlic and parsley and fry for two more minutes.
Add the meat back to the pan with the passata, saffron, 500 mls (2 cups) water and the oregano.
Bring back to the simmer, stirring to scrape off any yummy brown bits from the bottom of the pan using a wooden spoon.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Put a lid on and leave to simmer for about an hour on a very low heat. You could do this bit in a 150C oven.
After an hour, add the potatoes, pushing them down into the sauce, and cook until both the potato and lamb are tender.
The lamb will probably need another 30 minutes or so at least, but it does depend a lot on the age and breed of the lamb.
Taste for salt and pepper and serve with steamed greens.