Irish stew

1. Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Drain and rinse the soaked wheat, put it in a medium pan with lots of water, bring to a boil and simmer for an hour, until cooked. Drain and set aside.
2. Season the lamb with a teaspoon of salt and some black pepper. Put one tablespoon of oil in a large, deep sauté pan for which you have a lid; place on a medium-high heat. Add some of the lamb – don't overcrowd the pan – and sear for four minutes on all sides. Transfer to a bowl, and repeat with the remaining lamb, adding oil as needed.
3. Lower the heat to medium and add a tablespoon of oil to the pan. Add the shallots and fry for four minutes, until caramelised. Tip these into the lamb bowl, and repeat with the remaining vegetables until they are all nice and brown, adding more oil as you need it.
4. Once all the vegetables are seared and removed from the pan, add the wine along with the sugar, herbs, a teaspoon of salt and a good grind of black pepper. Boil on a high heat for about three minutes.
5. Tip the lamb, vegetables and whole wheat back into the pot, and add the stock. Cover and boil for five minutes, then transfer to the oven for an hour and a half.
6. Remove the stew from the oven and check the liquid; if there is a lot, remove the lid and boil for a few minutes.

Cooking notes

When scaling protein-led dishes, weigh the meat rather than counting pieces, and remember that the pan size limits how much you can sear at once.

For volume-to-weight conversions of any ingredient — flour, sugar, butter, salts — use the ingredient converter. To translate the recipe's oven temperature between °C, °F and gas mark, see the temperature converter.

When you scale this recipe up or down, remember that cooking time does not scale linearly. A doubled cake takes longer, but not twice as long; a doubled soup takes roughly twice as long. The cooking-time guide gives sensible starting estimates by dish geometry.