Meats - Slow-cooked lamb with onions and thyme

Serves 4

1.25 kg (2 lb. 12 oz) half leg lamb
1 kg onions
handful of thyme sprigs
300 ml red wine
large handful parsley

Heat oven to 160 C (325 F). Wipe meat all over and season well. Heat 3 T olive oil in large heavy flameproof casserole, add meat and fry all over on fairly high heat, abt 8 mins, turning till evenly well browned. Remove to plate.
Slice onions thin and add to pan, fry 10 mins until softened and tinged with brown. Add a few of the thyme sprigs and cook for a further minute or so. Season w s & p. Sit lamb on top of onions, then add wine. Cover tightly. Bake 3 hours. You can make to this stage up to 2 days in advance, reheat 45 mins.

To finish, strip leaves from 2 thyme sprigs and chop w parsley. Scatter over before serving.