HANGING LEG OF MUTTON WITH BEAN STEW

We went camping recently and took inspiration from the asado style of cooking and made this 6 hour slow cooked mutton leg. We got a 1/2 mutton leg from Swaledale Butchers seasoned generously with our Pink Peppercorn, Sea salt & Garlic blend and cooked it over chunks of apple wood from our friends over at Planet Friendly Firewood, we hung it from a tripod for six hours over live fire. When cooked through, we sliced it up and served it with a Bold Bean Co butterbean stew, featuring some bacon lardons from Swaledale. 

Ingredients 

½ leg of mutton 

Field Blends Pink Peppercorn, Sea Salt & Garlic Blend 

700g butter beans 

3 garlic cloves 

250g smoked bacon lardons 

1 tin of tomatoes 

A splash of water 

Method 

Build a well established fire. Use some good quality local kiln dried firewood and let the flames die back to embers. 

Season your mutton leg generously with Field Blends Pink Peppercorn, Sea Salt & Garlic blend. 

We used a metal tripod to hang the piece of mutton over the flames. Keep rotating the meat for at least 6 hours to cook and develop a nice dark caramelised bark all over.

Take off to rest for at least 30 minutes. Whilst the mutton is resting put a heavy bottom pan (we used a cast iron), over the fire and cook out the bacon lardons until the fat has rendered out. Add chopped garlic cloves and cook until soft. At this stage you could drop in a glug of wine if you have some handy! Cook it off until the liquid is almost gone.

Add a tin of good quality tinned tomatoes and let simmer for 10 minutes until thickened. 

Add the butter beans to warm through, including the bean stock if you’re using Bold Bean Co. Simmer until the whole stew is thickened. 

Slice the mutton, serve over the bean stew and enjoy with friends.