Braised leg of mutton with vegetables

Ingredients

• 1 whole leg leg of mutton (Bone removed and reserved for broth; meat tied into shape)
• 1 as needed to half-cover the meat broth (Made by simmering the removed mutton bone in water)
• 1 as needed onions (Peeled and sliced)
• 1 as good a variety as you can command vegetables of all kinds (Use whatever vegetables are available; a wide variety is encouraged)
• 1 to taste peppers (Whole or roughly chopped)
• 1 bunch parsley (Left as a bunch for easy removal when straining)
• 1 clove garlic (Left whole or lightly crushed)
• 1 a little spice (Use whatever spice is available; a small amount only)
• 1 glass Madeira (One standard wine glass of Madeira wine)

Instructions

1. 1Before you do anything else, make the broth you will need for braising. Place the bone you have removed from the leg of mutton into a pot and cover it with water. Bring it to a simmer over medium heat and let it cook gently for at least 1 hour. Skim off any foam that rises to the surface. Once done, strain the liquid and set it aside — this is your broth.
2. 2If your butcher has not already done so, carefully remove the bone from the leg of mutton using a sharp knife, cutting closely along the bone. Once the bone is removed, fold or roll the meat into a neat, compact shape so it will cook evenly and hold together during braising. Tie it securely with kitchen twine at several points — roughly every 3–4 cm — so it does not fall apart during the long cook. Set the tied joint aside.
3. 3Choose a large, heavy-based pot or casserole dish with a tight-fitting lid — one large enough to hold the whole leg comfortably. Place the tied mutton joint inside. Pour in enough of the prepared bone broth to come halfway up the sides of the meat. You want it submerged to about half its depth, not fully covered.
4. 4Add the sliced onions, all of your vegetables, peppers, the bunch of parsley, the clove of garlic, a little spice, and the glass of Madeira directly into the pot around and over the mutton. The more variety of vegetables you can include, the better the final garnish will be. Give everything a gentle stir to distribute the aromatics evenly through the liquid.
5. 5Place the pot on the stove over a low to medium-low heat. The original recipe calls for live coals to be placed on the lid as well, which creates heat from above — this is the traditional method of braising. In a modern kitchen, you can replicate this by placing the pot in an oven preheated to 150–160°C (300–320°F) once the liquid has come to a gentle simmer on the stove, or by using an oven-safe pot and cooking it entirely in the oven at that temperature. The key is to keep the liquid just below boiling point — you should see a very gentle, lazy simmer with only the occasional bubble. Do not let it boil vigorously, or the meat will toughen. Let it stew slowly until the mutton is completely tender — this will take approximately 2.5 to 3 hours.
6. 6Once the mutton is tender and cooked through, carefully lift it out of the pot and set it aside on a warm plate. Cover it loosely with foil to keep it warm. Pour the cooking liquid and all the vegetables through a fine-mesh strainer or sieve set over a clean saucepan, pressing gently on the vegetables to extract as much flavour as possible. Discard the parsley and garlic. Reserve the strained vegetables separately — you will use them as a garnish. Keep the strained liquid in the saucepan.
7. 7Place the saucepan of strained cooking liquid over medium heat and bring it to a gentle simmer. To thicken it into a rich brown gravy, stir the liquid continuously as it reduces and concentrates. You may skim off any fat that rises to the surface using a spoon. Continue simmering until the sauce has thickened to your liking and has a rich, deep colour. Taste it and adjust seasoning if needed.
8. 8While the gravy is thickening, take the reserved cooked vegetables (everything except the parsley and garlic which were discarded) and chop them into small, neat dice on your cutting board. Aim for pieces roughly 1 cm in size. These will be used as a garnish around the mutton when you serve it.
9. 9Remove the kitchen twine from the mutton joint and place it on a warm serving platter or carve it into thick slices and arrange them neatly. Scatter the diced cooked vegetables around the meat as a garnish. Pour the rich brown gravy generously over and around the mutton. Serve immediately while hot.