Don’t be too hasty when choosing that Easter joint. Spring lamb is a popular choice for the Easter table, in fact it may well be expected. However its popularity often surprises me. Although the meat is tender I find it usually lacks depth of flavour due to its hay and cereal diet. Hogget, however, a sheep aged between one and two years, will still be perfectly succulent and having had time to graze will have developed a more complex and interesting taste.

This recipe for stuffed and rolled shoulder of hogget with warm potato and crème fraîche salad is fantastic for feeding a crowd and ideal if you have a house full over the Easter weekend.

STUFFED AND ROLLED SHOULDER OF HOGGET SERVED WITH WARM POTATO AND CREME FRAICHE SALAD

Serves 8-10

• 2.5kg deboned hogget shoulder,
• plus the bones
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 4 sticks celery
• 2 red onions, peeled and roughly chopped
• 5 bay leaves
• Small bunch thyme stalks
• 150ml white wine

Stuffing

• 125g pinenuts, lightly toasted
• 20g tarragon, finely chopped
• 20g thyme leaves (keep the stalks for the lamb), finely chopped
• 20g mint, finely chopped
• 10g sage, finely chopped
• 1 handful washed wild garlic
• 5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 100g white bread, roughly torn
• 200g chopped dried figs
• 1 heaped tbsp soft butter

Warm potato salad

• 800g Jersey Royals or new potatoes
• 200g crème fraîche
• 75g pea shoots or watercress

Hogget is a sheep aged between one and two years

How to cook hogget shoulder

To make the hogget, first preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/Gas Mark 3.

In a food processor, blitz all the stuffing ingredients and season.

Lay the shoulder skin-side down and form a stuffing log down the middle. Bring up the sides and tie up to make a roll. Rub the outside of the meat with the olive oil and season.

Place the celery, onions, bay and thyme stalks in the bottom of a roasting dish. Sear the meat on all sides and place in the roasting dish with the wine and
150ml water. Cover with foil and cook for 3½ hours, basting a couple of times while cooking.

Let the hogget rest for 15 minutes then strain off all the liquor, removing the fat, to serve as gravy.

Remove all the string and slice the meat into thick rounds. Serve it with a jug of the cooking liquor to use as gravy and a side of new potato salad.

To make the new potato salad, boil the new potatoes in salted water and drain.

Lightly crush with a masher (you just want to break the skin but keep the shape) then stir through the crème fraîche with a splash of warm hogget liquor. Season and toss through the salad leaves.

You can buy Herdwick hogget here.

More Easter inspiration

You might also like to investigate our recipe for slow cooked shoulder of mutton, another ideal seasonal recipe.

For a traditional Easter tea, serve up our simnel cake recipe.

This recipe was originally published in 2017 and has been updated.