Lazy cooks are off busy doing something else while the meal is making itself. These are the slow-cooked stews simmering on the stove while you’re in the garden, the whole head of celeriac you leave to roast in the oven for hours, the chicken legs which have been marinating overnight and now just need to be transferred to a baking dish in the oven and left to cook. All the work has been done beforehand, to ensure that the dish gets the flavour it needs, but then it’s up to the combined forces of heat and time to do all the work.