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Ask your butcher for the whole loin, ask him or her! to bone it, but leave the skin and thin flap of meat that the bones were trimmed from intact. We will use this flap to roll and wrap with. 


Ingredients

• 1-1.5kg boned loin of hogget
• 75g pine nuts
• Teaspoon cumin seeds
• Teaspoon coriander seeds
• Splash of oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 12 dried apricots, chopped
• Grated zest of a lemon
• 60g white breadcrumbs
• Malden salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Method

Gently toast the pine nuts in a low temperature 100ºC oven until pale golden. Crush the cumin and coriander seeds in a pestle and mortar. Place the frying pan on the hob with a plash of olive oil, over a low heat toast the ground seeds until they snap, crackle and pop. Add the onion and carefully sweat until soft then add the apricots which will absorb the flavoured olive oil and cooking juices.


Turn the pans contents into a bowl and add the breadcrumbs, zest and toasted pine nuts. Season with salt and pepper, leave to cool. Lay the boned loin skin – side-down on a work surface. You will have a generous cylinder of lean hogget loin and a flap of meat, still intact that the rib bones were trimmed from.


Make an incision about 2cm deep along the eye of the meat where it joins to the flap.


Press some of the stuffing into this and spread the rest evenly over the inside of the meat. 

Roll up the joint and tie it into a parcel with butchers string,


Pre-heat an oven to 220ºC/Gas 7. Put the rolled loin in a roasting tin, into the hot oven for an initial 15 minute sizzle up then drop the temperature to 160ºC/Gas 3 and roast for a further 20 minutes for succulent pink meat (give it 35 minutes if you like it cremated). Leave the meat to rest for 15 minutes before slicing it. I like to carve it into chunky medallions.

Ingredients

• 6 free-range egg yolks
• 2 free-range eggs
• 150g caster sugar
• 300ml whole milk
• 300ml double cream
• 1 vanilla pod, split, seeds scrapped out
• 75g butter
• 8 ready-made hot cross buns, halved
• 25g sultanas
• 25g raisins 
• 25g demerara sugar

Method

For the custard, whisk the egg yolks, whole eggs and sugar together in a bowl. Place the milk, cream and the vanilla pod and seeds into a pan over a low heat and slowly bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and remove the vanilla pod. Then pour the milk and cream onto the egg mixture and whisk well. Butter the hot cross buns and cut into quarters. Place a layer of the hot cross buns into a 22cm deep ovenproof dish. Sprinkle with some sultanas and raisins and the demerara sugar. Repeat the layers and finish with a final layer of buns. Pour the custard over the buns and leave to stand for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180°C.  Once the oven is heated, place the dish into a deep roasting tray and add enough water to the tray to come a third of the way up the dish (this is a bain-marie) then cover with foil.

Finally, carefully place the pudding and bain-marie into the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes, or until the custard has set. Remove the foil for the final five minutes of cooking to brown the top. 
Serve the pudding with cream or mascarpone.