Lamb Stew With Whole Cloves of Garlic

Serves 6-8 people as a main dish, or 12-14 as a small dish at a feast. The soy and Worcestershire sauces are not authentic, so are optional, but they do make the gravy richer.

Ingredients

• 8 lamb steaks, cut into 2 1/2 cm pieces
• 4 onions, chopped
• Oil, butter or dripping to fry the meat and onions
• 1 large head of garlic, the cloves separated and peeled but left whole. Cut any really large cloves in half.
• 2 beef or lamb stock cubes
• 1/2 bottle red wine
• 2 teaspoons dried mixed herbs, or fresh garden herbs such as savory, sage, rosemary and thyme.
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 teaspoons green peppercorns, crushed
• 2 dashes soy sauce
• 2 dashes Worcestershire sauce
• 2 desertspoons plain flour
• Extra water as needed to keep the stew liquid

Method

In a flame-proof casserole dish or oven-proof saucepan, gently fry the onions until brown.

In a large frying pan, brown the meat. When the pieces are brown all over, sprinkle the flour on top and stir around for about a minute. Pour in some wine and stir until it thickens. Transfer the meat and sauce to the casserole dish. Use more wine or water to deglaze the frying pan and make sure all the good frying flavour goes into the casserole.

Add all the other ingredients to the casserole, stir and cover. Cook in the oven at about 170 Celcius for at least an hour, stirring occasionally and adding more water as necessary. When the lamb is tender, serve.

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