Cajun-spiced lamb chump, lamb’s tongue, squash purée, yoghurt-glazed baby gem

Preparation method

1. For the Cajun-spiced lamb chump, trim any excess sinew and fat off the lamb chumps, or ask your butcher to do this for you.

2. Rub the Cajun seasoning all over the meat, but not onto the skin or it will burn in the cooking process, and leave it to marinate for at least 24 hours.

3. For the glaze, preheat the oven to 180/350F/Gas 4.

4. Roast the lamb bones for 45 minutes, turning occasionally. Remove, drain off the excess fat and set the bones to one side.

5. Place the chopped vegetables and spices into the tray you roasted the bones in and fry gently to until golden-brown.

6. Add the red wine and continue to cook to reduce the volume by half, scraping off any brown bits from the tray.

7. Once reduced, place in a stock pot and add the veal and chicken stocks, roasted bones, and 1.5 litres/2½ pints water. Cook to reduce for two hours, skimming regularly to get rid of any impurities.

8. Pass through a fine metal sieve lined with muslin, add to a clean pan and heat to reduce in volume to a sticky glaze. Add the salted butter, to give it a nice gloss.

9. For the lambs’ tongues, trim and wash the lambs’ tongues.

10. Add the tongues to a pan with the duck fat, garlic, rosemary and thyme and cook on a very low heat for 1 hour 45 minutes, or until tender.

11. For the squash purée, peel, de-seed and chop the squash.

12. Fry the squash in a pan with a dash of vegetable oil until the natural sugars come out. Add some water and cook until tender.

13. Drain and purée in a blender until smooth, adding some of the cooking liquid if necessary.

14. Pass through a fine sieve into a clean pan, then season with salt and cumin to taste and keep warm until needed.

15. To cook the lamb, preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Fry the marinated lamb chumps in a warm pan with a little bit of rapeseed oil to brown them, cooking the fat until crisp.

16. Add the lamb to a baking tray, skin-side down, and bake in the oven for 12 minutes. Remove and leave to rest for six minutes before slicing, skin-side up.

17. To finish the lambs’ tongues, remove the confit lambs’ tongues from the heat and allow to cool slightly before peeling off the outer layers of skin. Slice the tongues in half down the middle. Pan fry in butter to colour them a little, then pour over the gravy to glaze them.

18. For the yogurt-glazed baby gem, preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.

19. Finely grate the cucumber and squeeze in a jay cloth to remove any excess liquid. Add to a mixing bowl with the garlic, mint, chervil and yoghurt and mix to combine. Season to taste and set aside in the fridge until needed.

20. Remove the outer leaves from the baby gem lettuces and discard. Slice the lettuces in half lengthways and chargrill, flat-side down in a pan with some rapeseed oil to get some good colour on them. Turn over, place on a baking tray, glaze with the yoghurt dressing and bake in the oven for 2-3 minutes.

21. Remove the baby gem and season with salt and cumin mixed together, to taste.

22. To serve, place a swipe of squash purée to the side of each plate and a yogurt-glazed baby gem to the other side. Top with sliced lamb chump and lambs tongue. Drizzle with the glaze.

Overnight preparation time

Over 2 hours cooking time

Serves 4