Head Chef Paul Winch,

Royal Oak

Cues lane,

Bishopstone

01793 790460

Spring lamb lollipops with spicy lentil and chick pea stew, yoghurt, mint and flat bread 

SPRING is finally here and if you want to embrace those warmer evenings with a simple versatile dish, then this could be for you. This recipe serves four.

2 lamb cutlets per person (try and get hold of some hogget if you can but lamb will do) Greek yoghurt (to taste and dollop on your meal) 1 tin chickpeas Small pack puy lentils 1 white onion sliced 4 cloves garlic chopped Ground cumin Sweet smoked paprika Ground ginger A large carrot peeled and chopped 1 large parsnip peeled and chopped 4 or 5 sprigs mint 1lb plain flour Seasoning Firstly trim off excess fat on bones of lamb cutlets so they look like lollipops.

Place your flour and season with sea salt and a splash of olive oil in a bowl, add enough warm water to bring together to form a dough that’s quite wet but workable with your hands.

If you have a griddle pan, put it on a low heat to warm (this will be used to score the bread, you can use a normal frying pan if you like).

Next get a sauté pan on the heat and add a splash of oil. When hot carefully add onion and garlic, then after a minute add chopped veg. Add a little stock and cook till veg starts to soften.

Next add lentils and cook for a further 5 minutes, adding stock when needed to retain a wet stew.

When lentils are soft add chickpeas and spices, bring to a simmer.

Place place lamb cutlets in the griddle with a small splash of olive oil. You’ll want to sear them in a nice hot pan to gain a lovely crust, then turn carefully and cook to desired rareness (please keep pink - simply amazing).

When the lamb is done, remove from griddle and rest.

Now brush your griddle pan and take four small dough balls of the flat bread in your hands (you can use a little flour if needed) and stretch carefully without breaking and place on griddle. I always splash the griddle with a little olive oil and let the griddle cook the bread for 4/5 minutes on high heat until bread has good lines in it and it firms.

You should be able to revive bread without it sticking, this is an indication that it’s ready.

Divide stew into 4 deep bowls, place 2 lamb cutlets on each one, spoon some lovely Greek yoghurt over the lamb, add sprigs of mint, serve with the warm bread.