Don't Sweat the Aubergine

• Disposable vegetables . Keep them if you like. But they have already done their job, imparting flavour to the sauce.
Two much simpler stews
    Tough cuts of meat such as middle neck of lamb and oxtail may not need to be entirely submerged in liquid, because they can remain tender in spite of exposure to the hot air inside a casserole. In which case, you do not need to brown them first – they brown as they cook. You turn them as they do so.
LAMB STEW
    For 4
    900g middle neck
    3 onions, roughly chopped
    1 head garlic, separated into unpeeled cloves
    1 orange, cut into quarters
    2 bay leaves
    Sprig rosemary
    1/2 chicken stock cube (optional)
    Salt
    1 tbsp oil
OXTAIL
    For 4
    900g oxtail
    3 onions, roughly chopped
    1 garlic clove, chopped
    1 tbsp tomato ketchup
    1 tsp soy sauce
    1 tsp nam pla (fish sauce)
    1 star anise
    1/2 stock cube (optional – I use a chicken cube here too)
    Salt
    1 tbsp oil
    In each case, toss the ingredients in a heavy casserole, and put them, covered, in a gas mark 1/140°C oven for 3 to 4 hours, or until the meat is tender. You can lower the heat once the contents of the casserole are simmering. Turn the meat occasionally, as it browns.
    You’re starting these ingredients from cold, and you may find, if you have a heavy casserole, that they take far too long to heat up at this low setting. Particularly if time is short, set the dial at first to gas mark 6/200°C, but turn it down as soon as the stew begins simmering.
    I find that the stock cube makes a difference, giving an extra depth of flavour to the sauce.
    You have added no extra liquid, but you will end up with quite a lot of sauce. You could strain it, skim it, and reduce it (perhaps, in the lamb stew, squeezing into the sauce the softened garlic from the hulls), as in the more fiddly stew above. If you really do want this meal to be as straightforward as possible and to serve the stew as it comes, you should probably take into account the fattiness of the sauce by serving it with plain rice or boiled potatoes.
CHICKEN STEW
    You brown the pieces of chicken first, but more gently than you do beef or lamb: chicken is more delicate; also, it doesn’t throw out so much water, so you don’t need a high heat to ensure that it fries rather than stews.
    A chicken stew is not the same as a chicken sauté ( see here ).
    Here, off the top of my head, is a recipe: it has something in common with chicken Basquaise, plus a goulashy note.
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HOW TO MAKE IT
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    For 4
    4 chicken legs 1
    Olive oil
    Salt
    2 onions, chopped
    2 garlic cloves, chopped
    1/2 glass white wine
    400g can tomatoes, or 6 fresh tomatoes, skinned and chopped
    ( see here )
    2 red peppers, quartered, deseeded and sliced
    1 tsp paprika
    2 tbsp sour cream
    Add just enough oil – maybe no more than a dstsp – to a casserole to provide just a thin layer, and put the dish over a low to medium heat. Salt the chicken legs, and fry them, two at a time if necessary, for about 5 minutes each side, or until lightly browned. 2 Remove them to a plate.
    The chicken will have exuded some of its own fat. You could take the view that chicken fat is not particularly delicious, and throw it away (but not down the sink, where it will congeal). Or, thriftily, you could keep it and use it to soften the onion and garlic for 10 to 15 minutes, until mellow. If you’ve thrown away the chicken fat, soften the onion and garlic in olive oil.
    Pour the wine into the dish, scrape and stir into it any sediments from the browning process you can find, and reduce this liquid by about half. Add the tomatoes (you can bash up tinned ones with a wooden spoon as they heat in the pan), peppers (which, not having a harsh flavour, don’t need pre-softening), paprika and a little more salt. Return the chicken to the casserole too, bring everything to a gentle simmer, cover, and continue to cook for about 45 minutes on a very low heat; or put the casserole into an oven at gas mark 1/140°C, or at a setting that will maintain a gentle simmer.
    At the end of cooking, remove the chicken to a warm plate, pour the sauce into a saucepan, then put the chicken back into the casserole and cover. (You could return it to the oven, turned off.) Put the saucepan on to a high heat to reduce and thicken the sauce, which will need stirring if it is not to catch. When the sauce has the consistency you want, turn off the heat, check the seasoning, and stir in the cream; pour the sauce over the chicken. Rice is the obvious