La Casseruola Di Agnello E Fagiolo-Italian Lamb Casserole - cooking recipe

Ingredients

200 g dried borlotti beans, soaked overnight in cold water (you can cheat and use 1 x 400g tin of borlotti or cannellini beans if you want)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
3 stalks celery, roughly sliced
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1/2 tablespoon dried sage
1/2 tablespoon dried thyme
150 g brown button mushrooms or 150 g portabella mushrooms, roughly chopped
2 medium courgettes, roughly sliced
1 (400 g) can plum tomatoes, & juice, roughly pulped
3/4 cup of good quality vegetable stock
1/2 cup red wine
salt & freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons plain flour
25 g butter, softened
800 g lamb chops

Preparation

Soak the borlotti beans overnight in cold water, then drain.
Heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
Heat the olive oil in the dutch oven and saute the onions and garlic until translucent. Do not allow to colour or burn.
Add the celery, herbs, mushrooms and courgettes and saute for 3 minutes.
Add the tomatoes & juice, stock, red wine, drained beans and the salt and pepper to taste, and heat until just simmering. Simmer for 10 minutes.
Add the lamb chops and stir until the chops are covered with the liquid mixture.
Cover, put in the oven and cook on 200 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes.
In the meantime, combine the flour and butter until there are no lumps.
After the 30 minutes are up, remove the lamb from the oven. Stir through the butter and flour mixture in teaspoonfuls until well combined. Cover, put back in the oven and then reduce the heat to 150 degrees Celsius. Cook for 1& 1/2 - 2 hours, or until the meat is nearly falling off the bone, and the beans are cooked.
Serve with crusty ciabatta bread or just in big bowls (think steaming casserole on a cold winter's night) with glasses of red wine. This is nice also with steamed green beans.