June was our experimentation night. We prepared lamb stew two ways to see if browning the meat does make for a better stew. We used the lamb recipe below, browning one and just dumping all the ingredients in for the other, and baked both pots in the over for quite a few hours... Ok we admit, we were having such a good time by then we forgot to check them when we should have. So after 4 hours in the over we tested both stews and the non-browned one was the best. It didn't taste tough like I thought it might, the meat pulled apart beautifully. The browned stew was possibly a tad overdone but I still think the other would have been better anyone.
Following this we shared a delicious dinner for dip and cheese followed by braised octopus.
Finally we enjoyed hot chocolate taste test. Kasia brought along a range of hot chocolate brands and we tried them all. Lindt chocolate flake hot chocolate and Vittoria's Chocochino were our favourite.
Lamb Stew with Red Wine and Anchovies
http://www.goodfood.com.au/good-food/cook/recipe/lamb-stew-with-red-wine-anchovies-and-parmesan-20121123-29udp.html
Fresh Pea and Lime Hummus
http://www.babble.com/best-recipes/pea-recipe-hummus-homemade-pita-chips/
Braised Octopus
http://howtoshuckanoyster.com/2011/12/21/from-offal-to-octopus/
