Serves 4

For the hogget
2 onions, peeled and roughly chopped
1 carrot, roughly chopped
1 leek, chopped, including all the green portion
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs thyme
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 hogget breast (about 2kg)
1.2 litres boiling water
1 heaped tbsp Dijon mustard
100g fresh white breadcrumbs
Small handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Splash of flavourless oil
Salt and black pepper

For the pease pudding
Splash of flavourless oil
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 leek, trimmed and finely chopped
2 sticks celery, finely chopped
500g green split peas, soaked overnight
1 bayleaf
A few mint leaves and stalks
1 tbsp cider vinegar
30g butter

1 Preheat oven to 160C/320F/gas mark 3.

2 Make a bed of the vegetables, bay leaf and thyme in a large roasting tin, scatter over the peppercorns and put the hogget on top. Pour over the water, cover tightly with foil, put into the oven, and leave to cook for 2½ hours.

3 Take out of the oven and leave covered until cool enough to handle. Lift the meat out and put on a tray in the fridge overnight.

4 Strain the vegetables out of the stock and discard them. Put the stock in a jug in the fridge overnight.

5 About 1½ hours before you want to eat, take the meat and stock out of the fridge. Skim any fat from the stock and keep it to cook the vegetables for the pease pudding. Lift any rib bones out.

6 Now make the pudding. Heat a heavy-based pan with a splash of oil and hogget fat. When it is hot, add the onion and cook gently for 5 minutes, then add the leek and celery and cook for another 5 minutes.

7 Separate the mint leaves from the stalks. Strain the split peas and add them, the bay leaf and stalks to the pan. Stir, then turn up the heat. Once it begins to sizzle, splash in the vinegar and stir until the liquid has evaporated.

8 Now add enough hogget stock to cover the peas, bring to the boil, skim any scum from the top and leave to simmer over a gentle heat for about an hour, stirring occasionally until the peas are soft. If they have absorbed all the stock but are not ready, add a little more liquid and keep simmering.

9 In the meantime, preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Put the lamb skin side up in an oven tray and paint with a layer of Dijon mustard.

10 Mix the crumbs with the parsley and some seasoning and press on to the mustard. Drizzle with a little oil and put in the oven. Cook for about half an hour until the crumbs are crisp.

11 When the peas are soft, taste for seasoning, lift out the bay leaf and mint stalks if you can, roughly chop the mint leaves and stir in along with the butter cut into small pieces. Any remaining stock can be used as a light gravy. Slice the meat and serve atop a pile of minty pease pudding.

• Rosie Sykes is head chef of Fitzbillies (fitzbillies.com) and co-author of The Kitchen Revolution (Ebury Press, £25). To order a copy for £19.99 with free UK p&p, go to guardianbookshop.co.uk