Herdwick lamb with smoked eel & turnip

We use lamb with a very good flavour and a reasonable amount of fat. Without the fat, you don’t have as much flavour in the dish, so don’t trim it all away. We shot this picture in asparagus season – during the rest of the year, use broccoli instead.

SERVES 4 PREP 20 mins COOK 30 mins A LITTLE EFFORT

1 medium turnip or mooli (Southeast Asian radish) 250ml good quality lamb stock

1/4 tsp cornflour splash cider vinegar

1/2 garlic clove, thinly sliced

1 large rack of lamb, off the bone (ask your butcher do this for you), cut into 4 portions

8 asparagus spears (in season) or broccoli, trimmed 1 smoked eel fillet, cut into 4 neat, thin rectangles

1 Heat the oven to 175C/155C fan/gas 31/2. Sprinkle the turnip with salt and bake for 9 mins, it should still feel almost raw. Leave to cool, then slice using a mandoline if you have one.

2 To make the sauce, reduce the lamb stock until it concentrates a little. Stir a little stock into the cornflour, then stir the cornflour back into the stock and bring to a simmer. Add a splash of cider vinegar, and take off the heat. Just before serving, add the garlic slices, bring to the boil then remove the garlic, if you like.

3 Season the lamb and cook it on a barbecue or griddle until medium rare, around 2-3 mins each side. Rest for 10 mins. Cook the asparagus or broccoli in boiling salted water for 1 min, remove from the water, steam dry, then BBQ or griddle until tender.

4 To serve, slice each piece of lamb in half and arrange it on a warm plate with 2 asparagus or broccoli spears, one piece of eel and a couple of shavings of turnip. Drizzle over the sauce and serve.

GOOD TO KNOW 1 of 5-a-day

PER SERVING 665 kcals • fat 49g • saturates 22g • carbs 3g • sugars 3g • fibre 1g • protein 51g • salt 1.7g