Mutton Stew with Boiled Potatoes

Mutton stew is a robustly flavoured, traditional shepherd's dish: from the slow cooking the mutton turns meltingly tender in the paprika sauce. It is best with boiled potatoes, which soak up the sauce.

1. Cut the fatty parts off 1.2 kg of mutton, then cut it into pieces.

2. Chop 3 onions finely, and in 3 tablespoons of lard slowly fry them glassy.

3. Add the 4 crushed garlic cloves, take it off the heat, stir in the 3 teaspoons of paprika, then pour a little water under it.

4. Put in the mutton, salt and pepper it, add the 1 teaspoon of caraway and the 1 teaspoon of marjoram.

5. Add the 2 chopped tomato peppers and 2 tomatoes, and over a low heat, under a lid, cook the meat tender (topping up with a little water meanwhile).

For the boiled potatoes:

6. Peel 1 kg of potatoes, cut them up, and cook them tender in salted water.

7. Serve the mutton stew with the boiled potatoes.

Tip: The caraway and the marjoram nicely tame the distinctive flavour of mutton; with a little red wine you can make the sauce richer still.