Viva Lewes Issue #140 May 2018

RECIPE
Southdown hogget with
wild garlic & parsley sauce
Philippa Vine, from Bluebell Farmhouse Kitchen,
likes to keep things simple… and seasonal
My husband Michael rears Southdown hogget,
Sussex beef, chickens and pigs on a small scale to
sell through our shop and at farmers’ markets like
Lewes Food Market. We have a vegetable patch,
and grow edible flowers and herbs to supply our
other business, a cookery school, which opened
last autumn.
We hold seasonal, hands-on cookery and butchery
classes, demonstrations and dining events in
our converted granary fitted with beautiful Esse
range cookers. We want people to feel they’re in a
farmhouse kitchen: the school is relaxed, informal,
and everything we use here is either foraged, from
the farm or from other local producers. It’s all
about the food. I’m greedy and I just love cooking.
I think it’s really important that we share around
the table.
Because we live on the farm we’re so aware of the
seasons. I grew up with this, and so it’s always been
inside me to eat seasonally using what’s available.
The media say it’s coming back but, to me, it was
never lost.
May is asparagus season, my absolute favourite,
so for this recipe I called Graham Love in
Herstmonceux. We grow our own asparagus
but because we use lots, I always get more from
Graham. I adore quick-roasting it with good
quality olive oil like Mestó and also plenty of salt
and pepper.
The earlier asparagus is eaten after being picked,
the better - another reason to get it straight from
the producer. The fresher it is, the less time it
takes to cook, and super-fresh asparagus roasts in a
hot oven in under ten minutes.
This recipe is very simple. As soon as we get our
own produce out, I tend not to spice anything
much because I want to taste the main ingredient.
At our farm, we produce hogget, or one-year-old
lamb. Unlike spring lambs that are cereal-fed, ours
graze on grass. Being given time to graze improves
the flavour and nutritional content of the meat,
and this rack is just gorgeous, like fillet steak.
For the sauce, I use garden parsley and wild garlic,
which I also like to wilt in a hot pan to serve on
the side as well, as you might with spinach. This
recipe works just as beautifully with fresh mint,
and if you have red wine and dark stock to hand, a
jus is a welcome addition.
Ingredients: 2 racks of lamb/hogget, French
trimmed; a handful of wild garlic leaves, washed;
5 sprigs of fresh parsley; juice of one lemon; 1tsp
Dijon mustard; 1tsp Arlington honey; 1tbsp capers,
rinsed; 120ml extra virgin olive oil plus more to
serve; salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Method: Preheat the oven to 220°C. Season the
meat and roast in the hot oven for about 15 - 20
minutes, depending on the size. Make a sauce
by simply blending together all the ingredients
in a food processor, or with a large pestle and
mortar, and taste for seasoning. Allow the hogget
to rest for 10 minutes, then carve and serve
promptly with roasted asparagus; buttery new
potatoes and wilted greens. As told to Chloë King
bluebellfarmhousekitchen.co.uk
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