Lamb shoulder sides.

A braise is a wonderfully low-maintenance way of cooking, giving one plenty of time to think about the rest of the meal. Ed Smith's On the Side is stuffed with great recipes, but I also fully subscribe to his general philosophy of using side dishes to create a balance of flavours, textures and colours across the meal.

As much as I love exploring new flavour combinations, there are some classic pairings to which I return again and again. I can't remember the last time I made lamb without some form of aubergine, and for the last 18 months it has almost always been in the form of a puree from On the Side. It's fabulous made just as Ed Smith suggests - the acidity of the pomegranate molasses is perfect for cutting through the lamb - but this time I decided to tweak it in a smokier direction.

Having made it at least half a dozen times, I was slightly nonplussed when the aubergine halves I was supposedly roasting emerged closer to incinerated. This wasn't what I meant by smoky. I rescued what I could, and roasted a new batch, in rounds, at a lower temperature. (I am becoming increasingly convinced the new oven runs hot.)

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Armed with enough aubergine, I substituted half the olive oil for smoked oil and added several cloves of crushed smoked garlic. I whizzed this up with the molasses, toasted cumin, lemon juice and salt as per the recipe, then decided to add heat by way of hot smoked paprika.

This is not the prettiest of foodstuffs, but it is scrummy: it always makes me think of the lyric from Beauty and the Beast "Try the grey stuff, it's delicious". As an accompaniment to lamb it doesn't do much to bring colour to the table, so that was my next task.

I sliced and grilled peppers until the skins charred, peeled them and arranged them on a platter. After a light salting I scattered them with finely sliced spicy shallot pickles.

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Finally, I figured I needed to introduce some crunch to the meal. I have been in the process of trying to use up a large amount of walnuts. Researching Mediterranean flavours that could link walnuts with lamb, I decided to make a salad with feta and spinach leaves. Pomegranate seeds would add crunch and colour, and link the salad to the aubergine puree.

I salted whole spinach and a handful of mint leaves and let them wilt in a colander - in this instance salting is as much about texture as flavour. I deseeded and sliced a cucumber (more crunch) and cut feta into small cubes. After rinsing the leaves I tossed them together with the cucumber and feta, with a big glug of a grassy extra virgin olive oil. I arranged this on a plate with chopped walnuts and pomegranate seeds and ground some black pepper over the top.