Preparation

• 1
  Preheat the oven to 170 degrees, 150 degrees fan oven.
• 2
  Peel, halve and thinly slice the onions, peel, halve lengthways and slice the carrots, then slice the leek and celery.
• 3
  Trim any remaining fat from the lamb, cut into bite sized chunks and season well. Heat a little oil in a large frying pan then brown the meat for a few minutes on each side; you may need to do this in 2 batches to avoid overcrowding the pan.
• 4
  Lift the meat out of the pan with a slotted spoon and place in a casserole dish. Turn down the heat, add the onions to the same pan, with a little more oil if needed, and saute gently for a minute or two.
• 5
  Add the carrots, leek and celery, stir and saute for a further 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle on the flour and stir, then gradually add and stir in the hot lamb stock. Add the thyme leaves, bay leaves and Worcestershire sauce.
• 6
  Season well with salt and black pepper then transfer it all to the casserole dish, mixing the vegetables with the meat.
• 7
  Peel the potatoes and slice very thinly. Lay them in layers on top of the meat and vegetables, overlapping them in each layer. Dot the top with small pieces of butter, add a sprinkling of black pepper and bake, with the lid on, for an hour.
• 8
  Take off the lid and bake for a further 40 minutes, until the meat is soft and tender and the vegetables are cooked through. The top layer of potato should be golden brown; to make it crispier, just put under the grill for a few minutes.