A typical dish of the regional cuisine of Abruzzo: the "cottora" is a small copper cauldron used by shepherds during the transhumance. A tradition that may go back as far as the sixteenth century.
We have found that other recipes recommend using tinned peeled tomatoes, but if you think about it, the peeled tomato is a fairly recent invention; if you want to reproduce an aroma and a flavour of times gone by, we suggest using fresh ingredients (not industrial ones). It is also unlikely that during the transhumance the shepherds had vegetables such as carrots and celery to hand, let alone chopped parsley.
It would be really interesting to find out what the ancient, original recipe of the humble cooking of the shepherds was.
Here we offer the recipe for pecora alla "cottora" as a more recent tradition has it. However, I would like to tempt food lovers to try out a recipe that is simpler to prepare, avoiding making the preparation too elaborate.
Preparation time: 2 1/2 hours
Cooking time: 2 hours
Ingredients
4 kg of mutton
1 litre of water
75 cl of white wine
1 onion
1 stick of celery
1 carrot
1 clove of garlic
chopped parsley to taste
3 sage leaves
2 potatoes
3 sauce tomatoes
chilli
salt
pepper
oil
The preparation
Pour a layer of oil into the cauldron and, while it is still cold, put in a few bay leaves, a few sprigs of rosemary and the aromatics (carrot, onion and celery, pepper and chilli). Cut the mutton into big squares (as best you can). Heat over a high flame; when the aromatics have turned golden, throw the mutton into the boiling oil to brown it. Once the meat has released part of its fat and water it will be golden. Add the tomatoes and continue cooking so that they release their water. When the tomatoes start to break down, pour in the wine until it covers the mutton.
When you have used up the wine, carry on covering the mutton with water. Remember not to pour in cold water, because the mutton would stop cooking. Always pour in hot water.
At this point cooking with wine and water goes on for about 1 and a half hours. 40-35 minutes before the end, throw in the potatoes, which you will have cut beforehand into large wedges, adjust the salt and carry on cooking.
A really tasty dish, a bit long to prepare but in the end simple to make.
Better if made in a copper cauldron than in a steel casserole. Remember, cooking is above all chemistry, and copper cooks differently from steel or aluminium.
Another classic of the Abruzzo pastoral tradition is lamb arrosticini.