Top 50 Gastropubs

6

24 hours prep

Hogget, Asparagus and Wild Garlic

by Adam Handling MBE

Hogget, Asparagus and Wild Garlic

Lamb Sweetbreads

1kg sweetbreads

1lt whole milk

5lt water

50g table salt

100g eggs

100g plain flour, sieved

100g breadcrumbs

Chicken and Wild Garlic Mousse

100g wild garlic puree

300g chicken fillets

100ml single cream

100ml double cream

150g egg whites

30g black pepper

13g table salt

Asparagus

18 asparagus spears, trimmed

100ml wild garlic oil (see 'Basics')

50ml hogget fat

Hogget

1 long saddle salt-aged hogget

8 anchovies, salted

3 garlic cloves, peeled

80ml olive oil

3 juniper berries

35g pink salt

5 white peppercorns

Broccoli & Asparagus Puree

1kg broccoli, shaved (approx. 6 large heads)

600g asparagus, thinly sliced

45g dashi crystals

20g basil

50g wild garlic

Garnish

Morels, stuffed with chicken and wild garlic mousse

Wild garlic

Wild garlic oil 

Garlic flowers

Lamb sauce 

Lamb sweetbreads

Soak the sweetbreads in milk, for 24 hours.

Bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil.

When boiling, add the sweetbreads to the pan. Boil for 1 minute, then remove.

Peel the skin off the sweetbreads.

Chill down.

Once cold, breadcrumb the nuggets in flour, egg and breadcrumbs.

Deep fry, at 180°C, for 3-4 minutes.

Season with salt

Chicken and wild garlic mousse

Make sure all ingredients are cold.

Place the chicken, salt and egg whites into a blender and blend until smooth.

Add the single cream and further blend.

Pass through a drum sieve.

Fold in the double cream, wild garlic puree and pepper.

Refrigerate until needed.

When ready to serve, pipe the mousse into extra large morels.

Asparagus

Turn the asparagus, 2 inches from the bottom.

Blanch them in boiling salted water, for 2 minutes.

Plunge into ice-cold water.

Warm, once more, in boiling water and dress in wild garlic oil and hogget fat

Hogget

Remove the bark (the inedible sinew from the top of the saddle). Running a knife down the backbone, remove the meat off the bone to prepare it, ready for roasting.

Once removed from the bone, trim the rib by removing 2/3 of the meat – you will only need enough meat to roll around the loin.

Cut the fat to 1cm thick.

Lay the anchovies all over the hogget fillet.

Pipe the chicken and garlic mousse inside part of what will become the hogget roll. Roll the hogget with butcher’s string, until it’s nice and tight.

Place the remaining ingredients into a blender, blend to form a paste and brush the

outside of the hogget with the paste.

Preheat the oven to 220°C.

Place the hogget on a baking rack in the oven.

Ensure to have a tray underneath, to catch the juices.

After 8 minutes, or when the fat is crispy, open the oven door and reduce the temperature to

60°C.

Keep the oven door open for about 5 minutes, to dramatically reduce the heat. The

meat will still keep cooking, as the outside is still really hot.

Once the oven door is closed again, cook for a further 25-30 minutes.

Check the temperature with a probe.

Cook until the core temperature reaches 52°C.

Once the desired temperature has been reached, take the meat out of the oven and

rest on a baking tray, for 15 minutes.

Slice when needed

Broccoliolli and asparagus puree

Bring enough water to the boil to cover the asparagus and cook until soft.

In a separate

saucepan, place the Broccolicoli and dashi crystals and cover with the boiling water.

Cover with a lid and boil on a high heat.

When the Broccolicoli is completely soft, add in the asparagus, basil and wild garlic.

Blend until smooth, incorporating the remaining cooking juices, so a wet, glossy puree consistency is achieved.

Pass through a fine-mesh sieve and immediately chill over ice.

Adjust the seasoning, if required

To serve

Spoon the Broccolicoli and asparagus puree onto the base of the plate. Place the 3 spears of

asparagus on the plate.

the sweetbread to the left of the plate.

Slice the stuffed morels.

Place the hogget onto the plate.

Add the stuffed morels and fresh wild garlic, dressed in wild garlic oil.

Finish with wild garlic flowers and lamb sauce.