The Big Glut Recipe – April

April lamb chops with chard and chickpea stew (inzimino)

Swiss chard is in season from October to April and June to August. This is a quick recipe for four with griddled spring lamb chops, served with Florentine style inzimino, which is technically any dish served with lots of vegetables. The River Cafe does a luxury version.

Ingredients

• A head of Swiss chard
• 4tbsp olive oil 
• Half an onion finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove finely sliced
• 1 stick of celery, finely chopped
• 1 carrot peeled and finely chopped
• 1x 400g/14oz tin chopped tomatoes
• 1x 440g tin chickpeas, drained
• A char-grilled red pepper, remove the skin and seeds, cut
• 8 lamb cutlets
• 1 tsp finely chopped rosemary
• 1 red chilli finely chopped
• 2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley finely chopped

Roughly Cut the chard stems into 1cm/½” slices and halve the leaves, blanch both in boiling water for about four minutes then drain. Char grill the red pepper on the griddle, remove the skin and seeds and cut into strips. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a heavy based saucepan and add the onion, garlic, celery, carrot, and cook down on a gentle heat for 15 to 20 minutes until tender but not mushy. In go the tomatoes, chickpeas and red pepper. Cook for about 10 minutes. The sauce will thicken. Add the Swiss chard and cook for 10 minutes.

Put the lamb cutlets between cling film on a board or work surface and bat them evenly with a meat mallet, rolling pin or carefully with your fist until they are 1cm/½” thick. Remove cling film, rub cutlets with olive oil to coat and sprinkle with rosemary, sea salt and ground black pepper. Get the griddle really hot and sear the cutlets for a minute on each side for medium-rare. Chop the red chilli and a handful of parsley, mix with two tablespoons of olive oil in a bowl, to serve on the lamb with the stew on the side.