Preparation time: 30 minutes; cooking time: 2-3 hours; Serves 6.

Ingredients:

• One kilo leg or shoulder of lamb (2.2 lbs) (You can also purchase the same weight in lamb stew meat)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil (enough to cover the bottom of your pot)
• 2 slices bacon chopped in small pieces one onion quartered
• 2 tomatoes quartered
• 2 carrots cut in bite size pieces
• 1 large turnip quartered
• heart of celery quartered and chopped coarsely
• 3 cups dry white wine (or the whole bottle... your choice)
• 300 grams dry white beans (10 oz) (soaked in water overnight)
• 100 grams of black olives (4 oz)
• 3 bay leaves
• a pinch of nutmeg
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
• water to cover
• salt and pepper to taste

Cut your meat into large cubes, (or alternatively ask the butcher to do this for you).

In a large deep dish frying pan, heat the olive oil, add the bits of bacon and onion and stir till lightly browned, add the meat and brown quickly over a high flame till caramelized. Add the tomatoes, the carrots the turnip, the celery heart, the white beans, the garlic, the olives, nutmeg, salt and pepper.

Pour in the white wine. At this point, you can continue cooking the stew in the deep dish pan, or transfer it to a tian or clay pot that can go in the oven. Cover with water and cook either over a low flame for 2 hours, or in the oven at 180C/375F for the same length of time.