The yummiest stew I've ever eaten!

On Friday night I was invited to have dinner at the home of one of my oldest and dearest friends, Danielle Raubenheimer. She is an outstanding cook and hostess, so I knew I would be in for a treat. The meal she made blew my socks off so much I simply had to get her to share it with you. So over to Danielle.  

"Given the plummeting temperatures and my lack of villa in Ibiza, I felt something comforting and nostalgic was in order to lift the winter blues.  My Ouma's Tomato Bredie (lamb and tomato stew for you Englse out there) has been on my mind and I wanted to set about perfecting the recipe which I have only received by word of mouth from various family members. With the below recipe I think I may have nailed it. Memory lane, in a plate. 

I suggest cooking it the day before you intend on eating it. It gets better with gentle maturing.

Apart from adding your cardiologist on speed-dial and making sure your extractor fan is working, you will need the following:

Hardware:

1 x spatter shield

1 x Large stewing pot

Tongs

Wooden spoon

Ingredients:

1 bottle of good, dry, white wine. One glass is for you to drink whilst following the recipe. I suggest you do that first ;-) Use 2.5 cups of the wine in the bredie.

2 Tbsp of vegetable oil

1,5 kgs of lamb knuckle chunks (you can use lamb neck too)

1 tin of chopped and peeled tomatoes (400g)

1 tin of tomato paste (70g)

2 tsp Mixed Italian herbs

1 tsp Aromat

Half a tsp Cayenne pepper

1 tsp of Black pepper

Half a tsp Salt

5 tsp of Sugar

2 tsp Nomu lamb stock

2 peeled and diced potatoes (3cm x 3cm approximately)  

Method:

THE NIGHT BEFORE:

Heat the oil on medium high heat in your stewing pot. Brown the lamb in batches, ensuring that you don't over crowd the pot. Fry for about 1.5 - 2 minutes on each side or until nicely browned all over. Keep your browned meat on plate toy our side while you continue browning the next batches.

This is where your spatter shield and extractor fan will come in handy!

Then combine the meat, can of tomatoes, tomato paste and wine in your stewing pot and simmer with the lid off for 15 mins, this will allow the alcohol to cook off.

Add one cup of water, the Italian herbs, aromat, cayenne pepper, black pepper, salt and sugar and simmer cook on low heat (it must bubble slightly)  for 1 and a half hours or so, with the lid on but slightly askew to release the steam.

You can switch the stove off, secure the lid and call it a night. Leave the pot standing overnight. By this stage the stew should already be going a rich reddy-brown colour and the smells should start making you salivate ;-)

THE NEXT DAY:

Start heating the stew up about an 1 hour and 45 minutes before you want to eat. I use a medium to low heat and add another 2 cups of water plus the lamb stock. The goal here is to have a thick rich stew with not too many flavours. The character the lamb takes on is flavour enough.

Add the potatoes half an hour or so before serving. Keep an eye out for any burning at this point as the gravy should be thick and sticky by now!

I like to serve my bredie with basmati rice and a sprinkling of fresh, flat leaf parsley. 

Enjoy!"