Slow cooker beef or lamb stew

Lamb chunks a couple of handfuls
Onion
One or two potatoes
One or two carrots
Small turnip
Small swede
Bouquet garni
Mixed herbs
A stock cube or two or a couple of pints of stock

More stock
Suet I prefer Atora light as it makes less leaden dumplings and of course has fewer calories
Self-raising flour
Mixed herbs one of the sachets from a refill pack should do, or about half a jar

Couple of teaspoons of salt
Cold water

Slow cooker
Frying pan
Big saucepan(s)

First things first open the bottle of wine to let it breathe. If you are not going to be out driving or operating heavy machinery for the day, now is the time to taste the wine. Unlike most of my recipes I don't really recommend you slurp too much right now unless you are planning a very relaxed day, in which case open another bottle to ensure you don't run out

The quantities in this recipe are necessarily vague, as I don't know how big your slow cooker is. I usually go to the butcher with my hands cupped in front of me and ask for about that much diced stewing lamb' thus giving me my couple of handfuls

Fry the lamb lightly in a minimal amount of oil until it is nicely brown but not cooked through, then transfer it to your slow cooker

If you do not have stock, then you will need to get a kettle boiled to pour over your stock cube, I personally prefer the vegetable stock cubes, as the flavour is not to overpowering; some of the meat cubes are too salty for my taste

Once you have your meat browned and your stock ready to pour it is time for things to get dicey! Peel all the vegetables and cut them into chunks of about an inch square and sling them in the slow cooker

Give your meat and veg a quick but gentle stir and add the stock until it comes to just under an inch from the top of the pot. Sling in your bouquet garni and about a teaspoonful of mixed herbs. Plain mixed herbs are fine, but I find that herbes de Provence go particularly well with lamb

Pop the lid on and switch on the slow cooker and leave for at least four hours. The lovely thing about lamb stew is it only takes a few minutes to prepare

At the end of the day you come home to a delicious aroma of warm lamb and vegetables wafting through your home, unless you have had a power-cut in which case go straight back out and find a nice hotel with power, hot and cold running waiters and a decent menu

Boil up some more stock ready to cook your dumplings

Resume wine tasting and slurping

Dumplings are so easy to cook that I don't know why I don't make them more often, oh yes, I remember they have lots of calories! But ooohhhh they are scrumptious!

For two very hungry people, or four normal appetites I use half a packet of Atora and half a small packet of self-raising flour. Just pour the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl, do NOT forget to add the salt I did that once and believe me dumplings with no salt in are not good!

Stir the dumpling mix round with a fork and slowly add cold water, as soon as the mixture begins to form a ball and the sides of the bowl are still coated with lots of flower, ditch the fork and get your hands in and gently work the mixture together [you did remember to wash your hands before didn't you?] until you have a slightly sticky mess that gets under your nails and is easily formed into balls, but not so sticky you can't work with it. It pays to add water very slowly as you don't want your dumplings disintegrating when they are in the pan. You can add a little more flour if things do get too damp

You can cook your dumplings in the slow cooker but I find it takes ages for them to cook this way and with all the lovely aromas floating round the kitchen I want my grub as soon as I can! So I fill a large saucepan with stock and when it is simmering I drop in my dumplings and let them simmer for about twenty minutes, turning them once halfway through

Drink more wine while you wait

Drain your dumplings and either serve with the stew alone, or with a nice hunk of crusty bread if you have a bread making machine you can stick that on to cook while you are out too

This stew is perfect served in large bowls accompanied by a good red wine

The stew can also be cooked in a covered casserole dish in a low oven about gas mark 3, although you might want to experiment with this when you are in the house in case you need to top up with stock