Lamb stew

2nd May. My dbw's birthday. She is 40-mumble. We normally go out for a meal somewhere but this time my brother and sister-in-law were down from the Eastern Cape visiting their son and daughter in Cape Town and we opted for a family lunch at our house. So the next question was what to eat. Clearly the birthday girl should not be expected to cook. Out of the question. Which left me.

I enjoy cooking but am certainly no expert and seldom get to do it. Normally when I announce that I am going to cook lunch or supper there is a rolling of teenage eyes heavenwards. This especially since Princess Firstborn started taking home economics, or whatever it is called in the new school curriculum. Now dishes not only has to taste good but need to be nutritionally balanced, preservative free, eco-friendly, humane and preferably not associated with anything or anyone not cool. I have learned that if I am making a serious bid to invade the kitchen, as opposed to just trying to pretend I am willing to shoulder my share of the housework, it needs to be firm and decisive, as in "I am making the dinner and no, I don't need any help, thank you! Everybody out! Yes, that includes you, dear. Especially you."

But that still left the problem of what to eat. Too cold for a braai. My dbw is fond of lamb. Lamb chops, roast lamb, lamb stew. I remembered an occasion years ago when my Mom-in-law came to visit us and made us the most divine lamb stew. 15 years later I can still taste it. I swear she used a Woollies' leg of lamb for the stew. I had never tasted anything like it and don't think I have since. So I phoned her up at 6 am on a public holiday (she is an early riser) and asked forsome advice. Asking people for their recipes is tricky, but this was in a good cause - her daughter's birthday lunch. She happily obliged but said it wouldn't have been a leg of lamb she used (which would have been a waste) but rather lamb knuckles. She also gave me a list of extras I would need to buy and add.

And so began the Great Lamb Stew. In the end it contained lean bacon, tomato, onion, olives, sauerkraut, mutton stock, red, yellow and green peppers, brown mushrooms, thyme, salt, pepper and a little red wine. I cooked it in a large cast-iron pot over low heat for about 6 hours the day before the birthday lunch, by the end of which it was smelling hugely enticing and the meat was pretty much falling off the bones. I let it stand overnight and then the next morning it went back into the oven for a few hours at the lowest heat. Some wild rice and mixed vegetables completed the picture and we were ready. Couple of bottles of du Toit's Kloof wine on the side to wash it down. 

Gauging how good one's food is is difficult. Guests are usually polite unless it really is inedible. Even family are usually polite. But they vote with their feet, or rather their mouths. I am delighted to say that most present went back for seconds, even my dbw, which means that either they were really ravenous or that it was really good. Finished off the occasion with a choice of cheesecake, chocolate mousse cake, fruit salad, ice cream, yoghurt and melktert - clearly not dieters' delight. I justified my indulgence by invoking the kilocalories burned in the half-marathon the day before. Not sure what excuses the others used, nor do I care.

Happy birthday, my love.