Wild Garlic Stuffed Saddle of Lamb with Roasted Baby Potatoes & Pesto Dressing

Serves 4, takes 2 hours

This lean and flavourful cut makes a wonderful Sunday roast centrepiece for four. Our butchers skilfully debone and roll the meat into a neat joint, ready to be stuffed and ideal for easy carving.

Wild garlic season begins in March, making spring the perfect time to try out this bright and herby stuffing recipe. It has a more mellow garlicky flavour than bulbs, which pairs perfectly with the delicate new season lamb we see around Easter and spring. We’ve chosen to serve this wild garlic saddle with a minty pesto, adding a fantastically bright and fresh finish to the dish.

1. Preheat the your oven to 180°C fan.
2. Place the breadcrumbs, garlic, chilli flakes, thyme, rosemary, anchovy fillets, parsley and lemon zest in a food processor and blitz to combine, slowly drizzling in your olive oil.
3. When everything is bound together, transfer to a bowl and mix in the cooled onions.
4. Untie your rolled lamb saddle and generously spoon your stuffing mixture into the middle.
5. Carefully re-roll until both ends meet, tuck into one another and tie back up as before.
6. Place a wide pan on a medium heat and sear your rolled saddle on all sides to colour, then place on a baking tray and pop in the oven for approx. 1 hour 10 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 50°C.
7. Remove from the oven and cover well with foil and a tea towel. The residual heat should bring its internal temperature up to 54°C, a perfect medium rare.
8. Place the baby potatoes in a baking tray with 2 tbsp olive oil and a pinch of salt, toss to coat and pop in the oven for 35 minutes.
9. For the pesto, pop everything except the olive oil and parmesan into the food processor and blitz to a paste, blitz again on the lowest setting and begin to slowly pour in the olive oil until you have a consistency you are happy with – we tend to keep this quite thick to be able to coat the potatoes nicely.
10. Transfer to a bowl and grate in a generous helping of parmesan, stir to combine and set aside for later.
11. Remove the potatoes, you may need to turn a pop back in the oven for a final 10 minutes until lovely and golden but this is your prerogative – if they look good after 30 minutes, remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly.
12. Once almost room temp, tip the potatoes into a big bowl and add a couple of dollops of the pesto, toss well to coat the potatoes and serve on a big platter.
13. Slice up the lamb saddle using the string you tied as a portion guide. Lay the slices next to the potatoes, finish with the peppery, crunchy watercress and a crumble of feta for freshness, bring to the table for everyone to help themselves and enjoy!

1kg boned and rolled lamb saddle

1 medium white onion, thinly sliced and sautéed

50g panko breadcrumbs

Handful of thyme, leaves only, stalks discarded

2 garlic cloves

1 tsp chilli flakes

4 anchovy fillets, plus a splash of their oil

Handful of rosemary, leaves only, stalks discarded

Handful of parsley

Zest of 1 lemon

Pinch of salt

Olive oil, to bind

1kg baby potatoes, sliced in half lengthways

Watercress

Feta, for crumbling

For the pesto:

100g cavolo nero, blanched, cooled and dried

Handful of mint leaves, stalks discarded

Handful of wild garlic

Handful of pine nuts

1 garlic clove, peeled

Parmesan, for grating

Zest of 1 lemon

Pinch of salt

Olive oil