Mutton Chops with Beetroot Hummus & Dukkah

There is a misconception that mutton has to be reserved for the slow cooker. A well lived life combined with humane slaughter, whole carcass dry aging and meticulous butchery, mean this is some of the most delicious and most ethical meat you can eat. Mutton handled poorly, like anything else, will be difficult to cook and perhaps that’s where its reputation as a challenging ingredient stems from.

These days, along with our family business there are plenty more people treating mutton with the respect it deserves. When well cared for it is a phenomenal ingredient cooked over fire. Laced with melting fat, flavour packed and full of character, mutton is the perfect bed fellow to smokey charring that you can only achieve when cooking outdoors.

I love to serve mutton with freshly pulled beetroot from the vegetable garden. There’s something so harmonious to be enjoyed from the pairing of tender earthy beets with grassy herbal mutton. Seek out the good stuff and don’t be afraid; once you’ve rendered the fat, cook it fast and keep it rare.

Ingredients

For the beetroot hummus 
1 jar Bold Bean chickpeas, including the liquid 
500g beetroot, peeled and chopped 
4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped 
5-6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 
1 teaspoon tahini 
2 tablespoons lemon juice
 
For the Dukkah 
75g Hazelnuts  
100g Brazil nuts 
2 tablespoons coriander seeds 
1 tablespoon cumin seeds 
3 tablespoons sesame seeds  
A few sprigs of thyme, leaves picked 

For the mutton chops 
4 Cull Yaw Mutton Chops 
A drizzle of Organic rapeseed oil
A small bunch of mint, chopped 
 
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to200C (400F), Gas Mark 6.

Line a baking tin with foil, leaving enough to fold over and seal the contents. Tip in the chickpeas along with their liquid, then add the chopped beetroot and garlic. Fold over the foil and seal by lightly scrunching the edges together. Bake for an hour.  

Meanwhile, make the Dukkah.
In a frying pan, toast the coriander and cumin seeds till dark and fragrant, making sure you don’t burn them, then tip them into a mortar. Toast the sesame seeds for a couple of minutes and tip them into the mortar. Crush the spices and seeds to a coarse powder with a pestle. Finely chop the nuts and add to the mortar along with 1 teaspoon of sea salt, a pinch of pepper pepper and the thyme leaves. Give it all a good bash and mix together, then set to one side.

Check the beetroot are tender and remove from the oven. Once cooled, transfer the contents of the roasting tin to a food processor and blend to a smooth purée. Slowly add the olive oil to the blender along with the tahini and lemon juice, then check the seasoning, adding salt and pepper if required. Scrape into a serving bowl and set aside. 

Place a cast iron pan over a medium-high heat (or light your barbecue) and drizzle in the oil. Season the chops and add to the pan, placing them on the fat side first, allowing the fat to render and caramelise. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side, depending on thickness of the chop, then remove from the heat and leave them to rest for 5-6 minutes.  

On a platter slather over the beetroot hummus, pile the chops over the top and scatter over the dukkah and mint leaves.