This spring both Ben and Guy have been lamenting the late arrival of a good deal of early spring vegetables due to our disastrous winter. What we do have available can be combined with your kitchen cupboard mainstays - the pulses - to provide a nutritious and fitting vegetable accompaniment that goes especially well with lamb. If you’re inclined to the canned varieties, as I am for sheer convenience, it’s also a simple and quick option. This dish could just as easily have featured flageolet or borlotti beans.

Ingredients - serves 6-8 2kg whole shoulder of lamb 3 sprigs rosemary 1 sprig thyme 3 tbsp olive oil 4 large shallots, peeled & sliced salt pepper 300ml white wine 2 cans cannellini beans 8 tomatoes 150g young spinach leaves 2 cloves garlic, peeled & sliced 2 tbsp olive oil a handful of coarsely, freshly crumbed bread 50g freshly grated parmesan

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 170°C
Scatter the slices of shallot over the base of a deep, snug fitting roasting pan and sit the lamb shoulder over them. Pour over the olive oil, rubbing over the surface, season with salt and pepper and cover/surround with herbs before pouring in the white wine and covering tightly with foil. Transfer to the oven and slow roast for 3½ - 4 hours - removing to turn the joint a couple of times during cooking, and removing the foil only for the final 20 minutes to colour the joint.

2 Cut the tomatoes in half, removing seeds and woody cores. Sit the tomatoes as cups in a roasting dish, seasoning with salt. Place a slice of garlic in each and half fill with olive oil. Roast for 30 minutes to colouring and shrunken then fold in the young spinach and beans. Season and scatter with both crumbs and grated parmesan and return to the oven for a further 15 minutes or until crisp on the surface and golden.

3 Lift the shoulder from its roasting pan and carve as best you can (it will be tender enough to fall apart). Spoon excess fat from the surface of the sauce, strain through a sieve and reduce if necessary. Divide the bean gratin between warmed plates and serve with lamb and sauce.