Lancashire hotpot recipe

I’ve been full of cold and generally feeling under the weather for the past week or so (hence the lack of posts on either of my blogs). I haven’t felt up to cooking much but once I started to feel better this weekend I have been planning what to cook and craving good homely comfort food. This dish fitted the bill perfectly. Lancashire hotpot is a traditional British dish which is essentially a lamb stew topped with sliced potatoes on top. Its simple to prepare and the flavours are delicious. But not the easiest dish to make look pretty!

Lancashire hotpot

Serves 4
1-2tbsp olive oil
500g Lamb neck fillet, diced
4 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1cm thick discs
1 onion, diced
1tbsp plain flour
250ml lamb stock
1tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1tbsp dried thyme (or a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme)
2 bay leaves
4 baking potatoes, peeled and cut into thin slices
few small cubes of butter (optional)

• Preheat the oven to 170C.
• Heat the olive oil in a cast iron casserole dish over a medium heat.
• Add the lamb and carrots. Stir occasionally until the meat has browned and the carrots softened slightly. Set aside on a plate.
• Sweat the onion in the meat juices (add more oil if necessary) for a couple of minutes.
• Add the flour and stir well.
• Add the stock, Worcestershire sauce, thyme and bay leaves and stir until the flour mixes into the gravy.
• Make a layer of potatoes under the gravy (place in the gravy and use your wooden spoon to push them under the surface. Add the meat and carrots back to the gravy.
• Arrange the remaining potatoes over the top. Add some small butter cubes around the top.
• Put the lid on and cook in the oven for 1 hour with the lid on and 20-30 minutes at the end without the lid until the potatoes are golden.