Veal meatballs with morels and leeks

Serves 4

(Jason Lowe)

Finally, British-reared veal really seems to be taking off and that poorly-reared meat from the past which had no flavour is almost forgotten, thank goodness. Your butcher may stock British veal – we buy our veal from Bocaddon Farm down in Cornwall (bocaddonfarmveal.com) and Brookfield Farm in Dorset and it has an absolutely fantastic flavour. Down in my home town in Bridport, Philip Frampton has a great butcher's shop under the town hall and he sells various cuts from Brookfield Farm.

You will find that just a little minced veal actually goes quite a long way when you cook it in the form of a kebab, on an open charcoal grill or a griddle pan for maximum barbecue flavour.

400g minced veal shin or flank
6 large spring onions, trimmed and finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 bamboo skewers
A little vegetable or corn oil
2 large leeks, halved, roughly chopped and washed
50g butter
100-150g morels or any other seasonal wild mushrooms, halved and washed, cut into even-sized pieces and cleaned
200g double cream
2tbsp chopped parsley

Mix the spring onions with the veal and season. Mould the mixture into 16 flat meatballs and skewer 4 meatballs onto each skewer.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a heavy-based saucepan and gently cook the leeks with a lid on for 2-3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook for a couple of minutes, then add the cream, season and simmer for 4-5 minutes, until the cream is just coating the leeks.

Meanwhile, preheat a barbecue or griddle pan, season the meatballs and brush with a little oil. Grill for 2-3 minutes on each side, keeping them slightly pink.

To serve, spoon the leeks on to serving plates and lay the meatballs on top, either on or off the skewer. Sprinkle with the chopped parsley.