Posted on
21 January 2016
by
Liz Robb
Lancashire Hotpot
Ingredients
Olive oil
Butter 750 - 800g casserole lamb 2 onions 150g swede 4 carrots 2 tablespoons of flour Salt and freshly milled black pepper 2 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce 425ml lamb stock A few sprigs of fresh thyme 450 – 500g potatoes
Servings
4
Preparation
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Preheat the oven to 160 degrees,140 degrees fan oven.
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Peel the onions and slice them thinly. Peel the swede and chop it into small pieces. Peel the carrots and slice them.
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Heat the oil with a large knob of butter in a large heavy based frying pan. When it is hot, add some of the lamb pieces and brown for a few minutes on each side, keeping the pieces apart. When the sides are well browned and crusty, lift them out with a slotted spoon into a warmed casserole dish. Cook the rest of the lamb in batches and add to the casserole.
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Turn down the heat and add the onions to the pan, adding a little more oil or butter if necessary, and sauté them for a minute or two, scraping up the crusty browned bits from the pan. Then add the swede and carrots and sauté for a further 4-5 minutes.
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Sprinkle on the flour and stir into the onions, swede and carrots, season well with salt and black pepper, then stir in the hot stock a little at a time. Add the Worcestershire sauce and the thyme leaves pulled from the sprigs, mix well and allow to cook gently for a minute or two. Spoon on top of the lamb in the casserole dish.
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Peel the potatoes and slice them really thinly. Arrange them on top of the meat and vegetables in the casserole dish, overlapping them slightly as you place them on. Dot the top with butter, cover with a lid and place in the preheated oven for an hour and a half. Remove the lid and cook for a further 20 minutes.
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To make the top of the hotpot really crispy, preheat the grill and dot with butter again. Grill for about 5 minutes until the potatoes look crispy and brown.
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Notes: This is a slightly leaner version of a Lancashire hotpot, using fairly lean cubes of lamb and a little olive oil and butter
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for more authenticity, use neck of lamb and cook with plenty of dripping!
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The traditional version can include lamb’s kidney too, if you like it.
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Vegetables are not always added, although carrots are often used, and I like to include swede. If you want to increase the vegetable content, leeks, celery or turnips would work well, or throw in a few peas. Or just serve with the vegetables of your choice!
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I like the flavour of the fresh thyme in this recipe, but you could replace it with bay leaves or fresh rosemary if you prefer.
Cooks Note
Lancashire hotpot is the perfect hearty dish, full of flavour, to eat on a winter’s day.
This traditional dish was made simply, needing little preparation, from neck of lamb, or alternatively mutton, onion and thinly sliced potatoes, layered in a heavy pot and baked slowly in the oven, needing no attention. In the past oysters were added too, in days when they were very inexpensive.
Traditionally Lancashire hotpot is eaten with pickled red cabbage; I like to serve mine with cooked red cabbage simmered in a little vegetable stock then finished with butter and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Yum!
Serves 4
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