Patrick Hill, head chef at Thackeray’s in Tunbridge Wells, treats us to a delicious springtime delicacy to try at home
Salt marsh hogget
Cannon, shoulder suet pie, heritage carrots, spiced couscous, caper and raisin puree
Serves 4
‘It may officially be spring now, but the weather unfortunately isn’t reflecting that, so a nice alternative until the lamb is at its best would be some amazing hogget, which is a lamb that’s between one and two years old. The more mature lamb provides a deeper flavour and is darker in colour. This dish is an homage to hogget, being cooked three ways and utilising three different techniques.’
For the cannon
200g cannon, marinated with lemon rind, thyme and garlic
Sous-vide at 64C for six minutes, then colour in a pan of butter and herbs.
For the pie
Suet pastry
200g self-raising flour
100g suet
Salt and pepper
Water to bind
Mix the flour and suet, salt and pepper, then add a tablespoon of cold water at a time until the mix forms a dough. Clingfilm and rest for one hour in the fridge.
Pie mix
Salt and pepper
hogget shoulder, diced
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 sticks celery, diced
celeriac, diced
4 sprigs rosemary
12 leaves mint
1l hogget/lamb stock
Season the shoulder and brown off in an ovenproof pan, then set aside. In the same pan, sweat the vegetables until tender with the herbs, before adding back the meat and covering with the stock. Cover the pan, cook at 150C for two to three hours, or until tender, and allow to cool.
To assemble the pie
Roll out the pastry to 0.5cm thick, and cut out a disc with a side plate. Grease a medium dariole mould and line with the pastry, fill with the shoulder mix to 1cm from the top, and fold the excess pastry over to seal the pie. Steam for one hour.
For the pastillas
100g hogget mince
4 dried apricots, diced
2 sprigs coriander
2 tsp Ras El Hanout
Salt and pepper
1 sheet filo pastry
1 egg
Mix all of the ingredients together and mould into a triangle. Fold in the pastry so that it forms a samosa-like shape, then seal with an egg wash and deep-fry to order.
For the caper and raisin puree
100g capers
100g raisins
Combine the capers and raisins in a pan, cover with water and simmer for 15 minutes. Blend and pass through a fine sieve and set aside.
For the couscous
100g couscous
2 red peppers, diced
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Salt and pepper
4 sprigs chopped coriander
100ml pineapple juice
100ml orange juice
Put the couscous, peppers, cinnamon, seasoning and coriander into a bowl, boil the fruit juice and pour over the couscous. Clingfilm and leave for five minutes. Remove the Clingfilm and fluff with a fork, then set aside.
For the purple sprouting broccoli and carrots
Boil these both in salted boiling water until tender.
