Mutton Chop Casserole - Delicious!

As I write this, in our part of the world we are nearing the end of winter. So we've put together this delicious meal to be enjoyed on a cold day. We made this meal for 4-5 people, but scale up/down the ingredients to make the right amount for your special occasion.

Mutton Chops (sheep meat) on a bed of glazed potatoes with carot/parsnip and a spinach slice.

To make the this meal you will need:

• 1182 grams mutton chops - but don't worry if you don't land exactley on that weight ;-)
• 1 tablespoon garlic
• 2 teaspoons thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 pieces orange rind
• 750 ml wine Apple Core Wine
• Olive oil enough for frying

Mix the garlic and thyme together in a small bowl, set aside.

Crack fresh pepper and salt over the chops, then rub the garlic and thyme paste on to both sides of the chops.

Heat the oil up in a pot or cast iron casserole dish like we are using and sear the meat well on both sides. Remove the meat from the dish and de-glaze the dish with a little of the apple core wine.

Return the meat to the pot or casserole dish and add the orange rind and bay leaves. Crack some more pepper over it all and pour in the rest of the wine. Add enough water until the liquid sits just below the top of the meat then put the lid on and cook for 4 hours on high heat.

After the meat has cooked use tongs and a holey spoon to help remove the meat, orange rind and bay leaves. You can discard the orange rind and bay leaves. Pour the liquid into a pot...we'll use that soon.

Here I used:

• 1 kg potato
• 2 onions

Chop potatoes into sticks and slice onion. Dump the potatoes and onions into a large pot and pour over the liquid that we cooked the meat in.

Cook the potatoes and onions until just cooked then drain the liquid - we'll use that yet again. Put the potatoes and onions into a new baking dish then place the cooked chops on top.

Pour the liquid that we used for cooking the meat and potatoes into a saucepan and place over a low heat.

I used polenta to thicken and add a corn flavor to the gravy. Alternatively use corn flour or make up a flour and water mix to thicken instead. Now if you do use flour to thicken make sure you cook it for another minute to avoid it tasting floury. Whisk the gravy until it has thickened then remove from the heat.

Add some olives and chopped parsley on top of the meat and then pour over the gravy.

To make this you will need:

• 1 onion
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/4 cup of yogurt
• 14 cubes of frozen spinach (about 350 grams)
• salt and pepper
• ground nutmeg

Cooked the spinach until tender then add to a food processor and blend to a paste.

Add the blended spinach to a bowl along with the yogurt, onion, salt and pepper a pinch of nutmeg and lemon juice.

Add the eggs and then give it a really good mix until combined.

Grease a dish with some butter, the dish that I used was 20 cm by 20 cm. Pour in the mixture and use a spatula to spread it out evenly. Bake in a 180 degrees C (356 F) oven for 15 minutes.

Once the is nicely cooked it is time to cut it up. We cut into diamonds but you can cut whatever shape you want.

Peel 3 carrots and 3 parsnips then cut into chunks. Add the carrot and parsnip pieces to a pot and cover with water. Put it on the stove and cook until soft.

Once the parsnip and carrot is cooked (should be nice and soft when pieced by a fork) drain then mash.

Serve up meal as shown.

I hope you enjoy the flavored mutton chops and potato base. The spinach and carrot/parsnip add both color, flavor and great nutrients.