Cooking with hay is an old technique – the hay keeps the heat in and gives the meat a fantastic grassy taste.

It’s important to soak the hay before using though, because if it smoulders it will give the delicate veal a flavour you don’t want.

Pet shops and garden centres sell clean hay.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 50 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients

  • 1 x 1.5kg rib or rack of Freedom Food veal
  • Salt and freshly ground Fairtrade black pepper 
  • A little vegetable oil, for frying
  • 1 new-season garlic bulb or a few normal garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
  • 10 small sprigs of rosemary a couple of good handfuls of clean hay, soaked in cold water for 15 minutes and drained

Preheat the oven to 220°C / fan 200°C / Gas 7.

Season the veal with salt and pepper.

Heat a little vegetable oil until almost smoking in a large, heavy frying pan, add the meat and seal on all sides until nicely browned. Remove from the pan.

Using a sharp knife, make about 10 incisions about 1cm deep through the skin of the veal and insert a slice of garlic and a sprig of rosemary into each.

Put the veal into a roasting tray and pack the hay around it.

Cover with foil and cook in the oven for 35 minutes. Remove the foil and turn the oven down to 190°C/170°C/ Gas 5 and cook for another 15 minutes.

To serve, leave to rest for 15 minutes, remove the hay and carve.

This will give you meat cooked to medium-rare – if you leave the veal to rest in the hay for a further 15–20 minutes it will continue cooking to medium.