Bonfire Night -time to enjoy all that’s simple enough to be held in the hand, wrapped in a bun or a baked potato. But for those who can be trusted with a bowl and fork, what better than a comforting stew and dumpling? So that knives are rendered redundant for hand held informal eating simply make sure that all in the bowl is bite size (save the dumpling which will yield easily to a fork - unless you’ve done something drastically wrong that is!). Cut your vegetables to a size that matches the size the lamb has been diced to and all will be well.

Ingredients - serves 4

500g diced organic lamb
1 tbsp seasoned flour
6 carrots, cut to chunks
1 onion, sliced
4 medium potatoes, peeled & diced
1 glass white wine
250ml chicken stock or vegetable bouillon
olive oil
salt, pepper
sprig rosemary, sprig thyme

50g suet
100g self raising flour
1 clove garlic, crushed and finely chopped
1 tbsp finely chopped parsley/rosemary
pinch of salt
cold water

Method

1 Sauté the onion in a little butter or oil until golden in a saucepan. Add the carrots and cook to golden too, now remove the vegetables with a slotted spoon and reserve. Turn up the heat, toss the diced lamb in seasoned flour and add to the pan to brown on all sides, then add the wine and herbs and cook until the wine is reduced. Return the onion and carrots to the pan together with the diced potato, pour in the stock and stir, bring to a simmer and lower the heat. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. If there is insufficient liquid to cover then add a little more stock or some water.

2 After the stew has been gently cooking for an hour, make the dumplings. Place the garlic, chopped herbs, suet, salt and flour in a mixing bowl and toss lightly to distribute, then stir ice cold water in with a metal spoon - do not overwork as the dumplings will become heavy. When the mixture has come together, divide into 4 dumplings and sit on top of the stew. Cover and cook a further 15-20 minutes by which time the dumplings will be cooked and the lamb tender. Discard the sprigs of herb and serve.