Lamb Stew

Lamb stew is one of the nicest meals in the whole world.

And when it rains, my mind automatically drifts to a warm crusty piece of bread dipped in a rich meaty gravy. This recipe is one of my favorites and even though I don’t eat meat anymore, I had to make this for my mum today because it’s rainy and cool this November.

This recipe calls for alcohol but if you don’t drink, I recommend using Woolworths’ dealcoholized red wine. The taste is just the same.

I also recommend using fresh rosemary for this recipe.

Ingredients

1 kg lamb pieces (trim all the fat)

1 tsp peri peri (omit if you want to)

1 1/2 cups of good red wine

1 packet Knorr lamb and rosemary gravy

1 mutton stock cube

4 carrots, peeled and cut in rounds

1 gem squash, deseeded and quartered

baby potatoes, halved (as much as you want)

3 sprigs fresh rosemary

1 onion, sliced

2 cloves of fresh garlic, smashed and chopped up roughly

1 tbsp garlic, peeled and grated

2 star aniseed

1 tbsp flour, use cassava if you’re gluten-intolerant

1. Heat oil in a large stock pot on medium-high heat and fry onions and star aniseed together.

2. Add cubed meat to the pot and let the fat cook off and seal the meat. This will take between 5-10 minutes.

3. Add peri-peri, garlic and ginger and mix into your meat well for 1 minute.

4. Add carrots and potatoes to the pot and keep tossing everything for another 30 seconds or so.

5. At this stage, boil your kettle. Add wine to the pot and close it.

6. Make your gravy in a mug and whisk it with a fork. Fill the mug with water.

7. Add the gravy to your pot and break in the mutton stock cube as well.

8. Lower your pot to medium and let your stew simmer on this heat for a full hour.

9. Add gem squash to the top of the pot.

10. Mix flour with 1/8 cup of water in a mug to form a paste. Add more water to your mug, about 1/2 cup and add this to your pot. This will allow the gravy to thicken.

11. Lower the pot even more and let your stew simmer for an additional 30-40 minutes.

12. The gravy will thicken and if you need more water, don’t hesitate to add more.

13. Serve with rice/garlic bread or plan toast.