The Hedge Combers

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Mutton Stew with Minted Dumplings

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This Mutton Stew with Minted Dumplings is slow cooked to turn the meat into the most flavoursome yet tender meat ever. If you’ve never tried mutton before, please do give this recipe a go, it’s fabulous!Mutton Stew with Minted Dumplings

Oh yeah! This dish is a little beauty, and brings all the best elements of a good stew together. Not only do you have the softest, tenderest meat drenched in a rich red wine based gravy, you have these little dumplings which are flavoured with fresh mint leaves and complement the mutton a treat.

OK, sales pitch over :)Mutton Stew with Minted Dumplings

I’m assuming that any good butcher will be able to source mutton for you if you ask them nicely, and if they can’t source mutton but can sell you hogget, then that’ll do just fine (if you’re wondering what the difference is, lamb is from a sheep up to the age of one, hogget is a sheep between one and two, and mutton is a sheep older than two).

You have to cook mutton and hogget slower than lamb otherwise it’ll be tough as old boots, but as always, this is where the slow cooker becomes your best friend. It excels at turning the tough and inedible into the most unctuous and delicious of meaty treats. Mutton Stew with Minted Dumplings

PS If it’s important to you that your greens are perfectly cooked (and seriously, who enjoys overcooked sprouts??!) feel free to steam them separately and then slip them in under the dumplings just before you serve ;)

Janie x

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Mutton Stew with Minted Dumplings

Ingredients

Mutton Stew

  • 600 g mutton trimmed of large pieces of fat and chopped into bite size pieces
  • 4 large carrots or the equivalent amount of any other root veg of choice, chopped
  • 2 onions chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1/2 litre of red wine
  • Hot water
  • 250 g Brussel sprouts quartered lengthways
  • 1 leek washed and thinly sliced into rings
  • 2 teaspoons cornflour
  • Salt & a generous amount of black pepper

Minted Dumplings

  • 100 g plain flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder or just use 100g self raising flour and omit the baking powder
  • 50 g suet
  • Pinch of salt
  • 30 fresh mint leaves finely chopped
  • Around 5 tablespoons cold water

Instructions

Mutton Stew

  1. Brown the meat in a hot pan in batches and pop in the slow cooker.
  2. Add in the carrots, onions, garlic and red wine.
  3. Flatten the ingredients in the slow cooker with a spoon, boil a kettle and top up the slow cooker until just below the top of the meat/veg.
  4. Cook the stew for around 4 hours of high, or 8 hours on low.

Dumplings

  1. 1 hour before the cooking time is finished add the sprouts and leeks to the stew, Mix the cornflour with a tablespoon or two of cold water and stir into the stew along with a little salt and plenty of black pepper. Pop the lid back on whilst you make the dumplings by mixing the dry ingredients together with the chopped mint leaves and water, and bring it altogether into a pliable dough. Divide into 8 balls and pop onto the top of the stew. Cook on high for another 30 minutes or until the dumplings have expanded and are cooked through.
  2. Serve with crusty bread and plenty of butter.

Need more mutton inspiration? Check out Camilla’s Mutton Kofta Curry, it looks divine!

Comments

  6. Great minds and all that. I made stew and dumplings yesterday too. Come to think of it, I think it was seeing your tweet that clinched the deal as to whether my stew had dumplings or not, so big thank you for that :)

    Reply

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