Mutton is on the menu

This weeks recipe is a mutton shoulder with a pistachio herb butter. The girls came round on Friday night and I hosted ‘Pistachio Night’! I wasn’t entirely sure what the pistachio element of my dish was going to come out like. I didn’t want a crumb like most recipes as gluten doesn’t sit well with me, so I got some mint, parsley and pistachios, chopped them up and soaked them in plenty of grass-fed sussex butter with a pinch of salt.

All my meat comes from Butterbox Farm in Scaynes Hill. If you are local, it is worth a visit. Every now and then they have mutton available. Mutton is typically a sheep over two years of age and is predominantly a by product of the wool and dairy industry. In this case, it was a sheep who had done her time producing lambs and was going for slaughter. It’s completely underused, sustainable, tastes incredible and honours an animal that might otherwise go to waste.

When I travelled to Asia a few years ago, particularly whilst I was in India, you’d be certain to see mutton on the menu almost everywhere you went. In the UK, it’s been completely overlooked in mainstream supermarkets due to low customer demand and the myth that it’s not as tender as lamb.

If you slow cook mutton in bone broth for several hours, almost the same time as lamb, you get something that is so melt in the mouth delicious, and the final result is a real show stopper for any dinner party.