Herdwick hogget with orange marmalade sauce

“Hogget is the name we give to lamb between 1-2 years old. It’s stronger in flavour than lamb but slightly less tender. If your butcher can’t get hogget, then lamb works just fine.” Luke Nguyen, Luke Nguyen's United Kingdom

• serves

  4

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  15 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 450 g uncut Herdwick hogget chops
• salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 handfuls water spinach, ends discarded, cut into 5 cm lengths
• 40 g butter 
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 1 sprig thyme
• 10 mint leaves, sliced to garnish

Orange marmalade sauce

• 2 tbsp orange marmalade, strained and rind discarded
• 1½ oranges, juiced 
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp grated palm sugar
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard

Resting time 10 minutes

Instructions

Ask your butcher to debone the chops, leaving them connected, then roll and tie with kitchen string. Season the hogget with salt and pepper.

Heat the olive oil in a large heavy-based frying pan over medium heat. Cook the hogget until browned on all sides. Add the butter, rosemary and thyme and cook, basting the meat regularly with the butter, for about 6-8 minutes, turning it constantly. Remove the meat from the pan - it should be a nice pink inside, then cover and set aside to rest for as long as you cooked it. 

Add the water spinach to the pan and stir-fry for 1 minute or until it has wilted and absorbed all of the butter and meats juices. Remove from the pan and set aside. 

To make the sauce, add all the ingredients to the same pan (make sure you remove the rind from the marmalade as this will make the dish taste bitter), then simmer for 2-3 minutes or until thickened and reduced.

Place the water spinach onto a serving platter. Untie the meat, then slice and place on top of the water spinach. Drizzle with the sauce and scatter with sliced mint.

Luke Nguyen's United Kingdom starts Thursday 14 May 2015 at 8pm on SBS ONE and finishes 2 July 2015. Visit the Luke Nguyen's United Kingdom website to catch-up on episodes online, scroll through recipes or find out more about the show.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.