Potjiekos is just a South African way of making stew on an open fire. It's taken quite serious in these parts of town and we have regular competitions. I have a tendency to get super excited.
Being the person I am, mine is normally red-meat based. I love to use the basic recipe mention above as a base, but the options are endless. Today's Potjiekos was Lamb Shank and Bone Marrow.
Easy enough to start: You'll need a fire and eventually end up with coals. I usually brown coarsely chopped onions with Portobello mushrooms and a grated carrot. Seal off the meat to a nice brown crust. during this time, we've also roasted some garlic
and bone marrow in the oven. This could of course be done on the fire too, but it would get in the way of our socializing. Add to the cast-iron pot the meat, onions, mushrooms, garlic, bone marrow with added canned tomatoes of your choice, half a bottle of bold red wine, good stock and herbs. Let this simmer for a good couple of hours.
Normally you'd have some type of starchy side dish to plate up with the potpie. Rice is and old classic. My favorite however is Potbrood. This is just a simple bread recipe and then we usually add rosemary and garlic, backed in another cast iron pot on the fire. Today however, we decided to add extra cheese and calamata olives and place it on top of our potjie... Before this, you should add the last of your chosen vegg. Leave this to the last stage so your vegetables don't disintegrate. Today we chose baby onions, baby carrots and butternut. After placing the dough on top you'll constantly add coals to the lid of the pot too. Depending on the heat, it should simmer and bake for another hour. I would recommend you pair this with a bold Red Bordeaux Blend to match the complexity and flavor. Be sure to make plenty. My friends have a tendency to plate up not only 2nd but 3rd helpings too. Also great the next day!
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