Most lamb bought coming up to the new season of spring lamb will in fact be hogget. A hogget is a lamb that is older than a year. Although not yet mutton (two to three years), it does have a more pronounced flavour.
For my money, hogget is a nice alternative to young lamb. It is also better value. I have been experimenting of late with the combination of lamb and seaweed, particularly lamb that comes from the west, such as Connemara or Achill.
I bought some dried sea spaghetti and rehydrated it overnight. The next day, I strained the liquid from the spaghetti and found that I had the most amazing light seaweed stock. Because there is still a lot of winter chanterelles around, I decided to give the combination another twist by combining the mushrooms with the seaweed.
I pan-fried some pieces of seasoned lamb loin until they were nice and brown all over. Then I removed them from the pan and let them rest in a warm place. In the same pan, I fried the mushrooms and the sea spaghetti with a little of the seaweed stock. Together with the rare lamb loin, the whole dish has a lovely saline and earthy quality – almost like standing on a cliff looking out to sea.
Another nice way of combining lamb and seaweed is in a winter root vegetable ratatouille. Any root vegetables will do, whatever is available – parsnip, celeriac, carrots. Dice them and fry in some oil with a little onion and garlic. Add some thyme and rosemary. Now for the magic ingredient: fresh dillisk. Chop it up into little pieces and add to the pot.
Sweat the vegetables under a little greaseproof paper until tender, then add a jar of passata or some homemade tomato sauce. Warm thoroughly and simmer for 30 minutes. I usually serve ratatouille with lamb loin but it would pair equally well with some shoulder chops or rump. If you can get your hands on some pepper dulse, it makes a wonderful finishing touch to the dish.
