Mark Hix recipe: Veal chop with roasted new season Elephant garlic

Serves 4

Veal chop with roasted new season Elephant garlic (Jason Lowe)

I love a good veal chop, and there are a handful of British producers rearing very good veal at the moment. Elephant garlic comes – as you might guess from the name – in much bigger bulbs than the regular kind, and is one of the varieties grown at South West Garlic Farm. I've served this with some wild garlic purée that I make every year, while the leaves are abundant. But salsa verde or just good old mustard would do just as well.

4 veal chops of about 350-400g each
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2-3tbsp olive or rapeseed oil
50-60g butter
2 large bulbs of new season elephant garlic, each cut into 6 wedges
2tbsp chopped parsley

For the wild garlic purée

2-3 handfuls of wild garlic leaves and stems, washed and dried
120-150ml rapeseed oil

Simply blend the wild garlic in a liquidiser with the rapeseed oil, until smooth (this can be stored in a sterilised preserving jar in the fridge for up to six months).

Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Put the garlic in a roasting tray, season and spoon over some of the olive oil. Roast for about 30 minutes, turning during cooking until it's lightly coloured.

Meanwhile, preheat a ribbed griddle pan, barbecue or heavy frying pan. Season the chops and lightly oil them. Grill for about 5-6 minutes on each side, more or less, depending on the thickness, but keeping them pink.

Melt the butter, stir in the parsley, and toss the garlic in it briefly. To serve, place the chops on warmed serving plates with the garlic scattered on top or in a pile on the side.