Recipe: Rowley Leigh’s lamb chops with squash and radicchio

I am not doing detox. Not yet, at least. Like Saint Augustine (“Grant me chastity and continence, but not yet”), I prefer to take my time in these matters. January — and especially this one, beginning with a bad hangover and worse foreboding — is hard enough without giving up any winter comforts. So, for a little while longer, I shall be sustaining myself of an evening with a glass of red wine and the time-honoured northern diet of meat and potatoes, with occasional time off for fish and good behaviour. So that means boiled beef, pork chops, game stews and lamb. Yes, lamb.

This is a good time of year for lamb. That may be counter-intuitive, as one sees little lambs gambolling in the spring — early summer, actually — and thinks that’s the time young sheep should be taken to market. We are programmed for spring lamb but in most of our lamb country, in the north, in Wales and Scotland, the lambs aren’t born until at least May, and sometimes not until August. They progress slowly to an age when they might be fit for the table. Not fed any extra nutrients and forced to forage and search for shelter, they gain weight slowly and produce a richer, darker sort of meat than their lowland cousins, which are reared for the spring market.

This is not the sort of lamb to accompany peas and asparagus and dainty summer fare. Hogget — for this is really what it is — needs a bit of acidity to counteract the rich fat and hint of mutton in the flavour. It can also cope with strong wintry flavours. We have just been doing these chops with mashed swede, a bit of haggis and a little splash of whisky. They will go equally well with a caper sauce, boiled potatoes and some redcurrant jelly or in a hot pot with potatoes, onions and, with a bit of luck, a few kidneys. These are all properly seasonal, northern European responses and accompaniments. But if there is one time when seasonality can be stretched a bit, it is now. Although both squash and radicchio both signify late autumn rather than the depths of winter, there are still plenty of both about. I hadn’t meant to combine these elements — I had actually intended something very different and was let down — but serendipity is the mother of invention. I have to say it cheered up the day.

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Lamb chops with squash and radicchio

If buying from a butcher, ask him to cut extra thick chops, four from the rack rather than the traditional six, and from a good old lamb with well-marbled meat.

Serves four.

Ingredients:

1. Split the squash down the middle and scoop out all the seeds. Place the squash down on a board and halve again and then again until you have segments. Toss these in a little olive oil and lay on an oven tray to roast at 200C for 30 or 40 minutes until they are lightly browned and perfectly tender. Season well with salt and pepper and sprinkle the sage leaves over.
2. Quarter the radicchio heads and colour them in olive oil on all sides, sprinkling them with the sugar and then adding the vinegar and a good pinch of salt. Reduce the vinegar before adding the red wine. Cover and braise lightly for 10 minutes.
3. In a heavy skillet, lay the seasoned chops on their sides to render the fat before colouring the faces of the meat. Remove from the pan once they are a juicy rare (if you want them a nice pinkish medium rare) and let them rest. Prepare the dressing by chopping the garlic, finely grating the lemon zest and mixing both with the lemon juice, sea salt, chilli flakes and oregano before adding the olive oil.
4. Arrange the squash in an oven dish with the radicchio nestling in its curves and a lamb chop on the radicchio. Spoon the dressing over the chops and put them back in the oven for two or three minutes to finish their cooking and serve.

Wine

Lemon and chilli are not the stuff for fine wine. Besides, after the extravagances of Christmas, there is a little retrenchment going on in our house. A robust country red is appropriate: Argentine Malbec, anyone?

Photographs: Andy Sewell