Mutton with stuffed vine leaves
For the past month or so I had a big chunk of shoulder from a hogget (young mutton) in the freezer; bought at the last Basingstoke Farmers’ Market and kept in anticipation for my sister’s Easter visit. Alas, she never came so I decided to cook it for just the two of us.
This is another recipe from the River Cottage Meat Book, based on a Lebanese dish. The rich, deep flavour of the hogget or mutton (lamb is really too subtle for this) is balanced with stuffed vine leaves and tangy lemon. The great advantage of this dish is that it needs very little attention once it is assembled—finishing it is very quick so it is ideal for a dinner party when you’d rather sit around the table than slave in the kitchen. It’s great for sharing anyway.
Mutton with stuffed vine leaves
The stuffed vine leaves usually include coarsely minced lamb, but I didn’t have any so I used chicken left over from stock making:
20 vine leaves, blanched; 75g uncooked long-grain rice; 150g cooked meats, finely chopped; 10g butter, melted; 1 clove garlic, crushed; a pinch each of cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg; salt & pepper
Mix everything together, place a teaspoon full in the middle of each leaf, fold in the edges, fold over and roll up.
½ boned and rolled shoulder of mutton; 2 tbsp olive oil; salt & pepper; 2 cloves; 1 tsp fresh thyme; 1 clove garlic, finely shredded; 300ml hot stock; zest ½lemon
Fry the meat in the oil to seal all over. Season and place in casserole. Pack the leaf parcels around the joint, scatter over the thyme and garlic, tuck in the cloves and pour over the hot stock. Cover very tightly with a lid or double layer of foil and bake in a slow oven (gas mark ½/120°C) 1.5h. Turn over meat, adjust the liquid level, scatter over the lemon zest and cook another 1.5 h.
Juice ½ lemon; 1 tbsp freshly chopped mint
Stir in and adjust seasoning.
Serve with Greek yoghurt mixed with salt-crushed garlic and grated, squeezed cucumber (try to get a small cucumber from middle Eastern grocers—they are the real thing. The more twisted, the better!), warm pitta bread and a salad of thinly sliced onion with lemon juice, a little fresh green chilli and equal quantities of fresh mint and coriander.
This was the ideal dish to cook for the evening of my SciFi club meeting, as it is so straightforward to finish. I took the dish out of the oven after 2h, scattered over the zest and summoned John.
“Put this back in the oven for about 1h to heat through, then carefully lift out the leaves and meat, carve the meat and keep warm. Adjust the seasoning of the sauce and add lemon juice to taste. If you wish, you can thicken the sauce with a little cornflour, then add 1 tbsp finely shredded mint, but don’t add the mint before thickening. Got all that?”
He nodded brightly: “Put the dish back in the oven for an hour before the end of the meeting and wait for you to get home!”
Men.
Tags: 'Round the World Recipes, Tag Index
Denni