Hogget, Baby Gem, Peas by Scott Smith

Ingredients

1kg hogget neck (on the bone)
25g sea salt
1 Large baby gem
1 tbsp butter
50g crowdie cheese
100ml lamb stock
350g fresh peas
50g spinach
50g butter
Oil for cooking

Method

Hogget:
- Salt the hogget and leave in the fridge for a few hours. Bring out of the fridge, rinse the salt off and pat dry.
- Sear off in a hot frying pan with a little oil
- Tightly cover the hogget in foil and roast in the over 180 degrees C for 3 hrs, basting regularly
- Remove from the oven and pick the meat off, mix with the cooking juice
Baby Gem:
- Cut the gem in half lengthways
- Heat the butter on medium heat and cook the gem cut-face down until golden brown. Remove from the pan
- Tuck the hogget meat into the layers of the gem
Pea puree:
- Bring a pan of salted water to the boil, drop in 300g of peas in for 2 minutes and then put them in a blender. Blend on full speed until smooth, add a little of the water as needed.
- Add the butter at the end the pass the puree through a sieve. Keep warm.
To plate:
- Warm the stuffed gem halves in an over 180 degrees C for 5 minutes with the lamb stock
- Spoon the pea puree in the middle of a plate, put the gem half on top
- Top with crowdie and remaining raw peas
- Serve immediately

In these challenging times…

The Staff Canteen team are taking a different approach to keeping our website independent and delivering content free from commercial influence. Our Editorial team have a critical role to play in informing and supporting our audience in a balanced way. We would never put up a paywall and restrict access – The Staff Canteen is open to all and we want to keep bringing you the content you want; more from younger chefs, more on mental health, more tips and industry knowledge, more recipes and more videos. We need your support right now, more than ever, to keep The Staff Canteen active. Without your financial contributions this would not be possible.

Over the last 12 years, The Staff Canteen has built what has become the go-to platform for chefs and hospitality professionals. As members and visitors, your daily support has made The Staff Canteen what it is today. Our features and videos from the world’s biggest name chefs are something we are proud of. We have over 500,000 followers across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and other social channels, each connecting with chefs across the world. Our editorial and social media team are creating and delivering engaging content every day, to support you and the whole sector - we want to do more for you.

A single coffee is more than £2, a beer is £4.50 and a large glass of wine can be £6 or more.

Support The Staff Canteen from as little as £1 today. Thank you.