Mutton Chops and Vegetables in Coopers Mexican Cerveza

[wildschwein]

Here's an economical dish I threw together yesterday for an early dinner. Came up very nicely. I made a batch of Coopers Cervaza a while back with 500mls of rice malt syrup, 500g of dextrose and 20g of Bavarian Saaz pellets as aroma additions. At first it was a little too cidery but has now turned out to be very drinkable and because it's not very bitter it makes a great cooking liquid which doesn't overpower the final dish. My girlfriend likes drinking it too. Seems to be good for folk who don't like strong hoppy beers. Anyway here's the recipe.

Ingredients
6 forequarter mutton or lamb chops (you could use about a kilo of any meat here really: beef, pork etc)
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 a teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 onion finely sliced
1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped in cubes
1 large stalk of celery chopped in cubes
5 cloves of garlic finely sliced
1 rasher of bacon finely sliced (optional)
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoons of tomato paste
1 teaspoon of dried thyme
1 teaspoon of dried majoram
2 teaspoons of paprika (smoked or plain)
1/3 of a cup of pearl barley
1 cup of meat broth ( I used a very gelatinous stock made from pig's trotters)
2 teaspoons of chicken stock powder
330mls of Coopers Mex Cerveza (any light lager or pale ale will work well here, but use whatever type of beer you fancy)
additional water to cover
A few sprigs of fresh parsley chopped

Method
Preheat oven to 160C. Season the chops with the salt and pepper and brown them on both sides in the olive oil in a large flameproof casserole dish. Remove and set aside. Add the onion, carrot, celery, bacon (if used), garlic and bay leaf and fry till lightly browned scraping up any brown bits left over from frying the meat (brown bits=flavour). Add the tomato paste and fry for a couple of minutes to wake up the flavour then add the thyme, majoram, paprika and pearl barley and mix through for a minute or two then return the chops and any juices to the casserole. Add the meat broth, the stock powder and the beer. If the chops are not covered add a little water to just barely cover them. Place a lid on the casserole and bring it the boil. Place the casserole in the oven and cook for about 2 - 2 and 1/2 hours, or until the meat is very tender. Stir from time to time and ensure the chops remain just covered with the liquid. If it is reducing too much add a little boiling water to keep it topped up. Before serving skim off the excess fat (with forequarter chops there'll be quite a bit) and mix through the chopped parsley. Adjust the seasoning to your taste with salt and pepper. I served this with a little plain steamed rice and some crusty buttered bread (go away carb police). Perfect for a cold day and it matches well with a Coopers Bitter (made with BE2, kit yeast, 23L, aged 3 months) served at around 10C. Enjoy!

[Chris]

That is pretty detailed.

For a slight variation, try 1-2 tablespoons of brown sugar. Makes it a bit like 'Mexican chops.'

[wildschwein]

Yeah, sure. Sugar is always a godd addition dishes with tomato or tomato paste. Just balances the acidty a bit.