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Antony Worrall Thompson, one of the UK’s most popular and successful chefs, is a restaurateur, author, television presenter and broadcaster, whose latest venture has taken him out on the high seas. Thompson has recently joined MSC Cruises alongside Michelin-starred French chef Gilles Epié, Kolja Kleeberg (Germany), Filippo La Mantia (Italy) and the Michelin star winner Paco Roncero (Spain).

This week's recipe is from The Essential Low Fat Cookbook by Antony Worrall Thompson with Juliette Kellow BSc RD (Kyle Cathie, £20) and photography by Georgia Glynn Smith. Bon apetite!

An Italian Lamb Feast

This dish is a great alternative to a Sunday roast, though there’s none of your pink lamb here. This is falling-off-the-bone-style cooking, which involves a little work towards the end of cooking, skimming off the fat, but is full of flavour

Serves 6

1 small leg of lamb on the bone (ideally no bigger than 1kg)

2 garlic cloves, half sliced and half finely chopped

½ bunch of fresh oregano or marjoram

2 onions, finely chopped

2 teaspoons olive oil

½ butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into 3cm pieces

1 x 400g tin cherry tomatoes

1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes

1 tablespoon Greek or wild dried oregano

325g dried macaroni (small)

1 tablespoon Lilliput (baby) capers, drained

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Preheat the oven to 150ºC/gas mark 2.

Make several slashes or deep holes all over the lamb and insert a slice of garlic and a small sprig of oregano or marjoram into each cut. Season with salt and ground black pepper.

Place the onion, oil and butternut squash in a bowl and toss together then place in a roasting tray big enough to take the lamb. Pour in the two types of tomatoes and the dried oregano, and stir to combine.

Place the lamb on top and cook for 2½ hours. Pour a glass of water in every so often as the liquids in the base dry out, and baste the lamb with the juices.

After the allotted time, remove the lamb to rest and keep warm, then pour the remains of the pan into a heatproof glass jug and leave to stand for 5 minutes to allow the fat to separate from the juice. Skim off the fat then tip the contents of the jug into a saucepan. Add enough boiling water to provide sufficient liquid to cook the pasta, then add the macaroni. Cook for 1 minute longer than suggested in the manufacturer’s instructions. Fold in the capers and parsley, season to taste, then pour the pasta sauce over the lamb.