Lancashire hot pot

Another British dish for as you might have guessed Lancashire, and with all the hill farms in the area what better way to use up your lamb.  Now if you can get it you should use mutton but it is not always easy to get.  For this recipe, I have use neck of lamb for a slow long cook dish like this you do not want your best cuts of meat but some of the cheaper cuts.  This should be cooked in the oven on a day when you are out on the garden this time of year tiding up after the summer ready for the winter.  Or after a long country walk on a cold but sunny autumn day.  I do not know hay it just tastes better if you have been out in the fresh are getting some exorcise. The problem with that is if you have been out all day you do not feel like cooking so do it the day before and just pop it in the oven when you get in.

You will need,

2 tbsp oil

1kg/2lb 2oz neck of lamb diced

2 carrots

1 small sewed.

2 onions

1 tbsp plain flour

250ml/9fl oz lamb stock

1 sprig fresh thyme

1 fresh bay leave

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

50g/2oz butter

1kg/2lb 2oz potatoes

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Now I do not know if it is traditional or not to have carrots and sewed in a Lancashire hot pot but I put it in mine. Now coming from Lincolnshire and settling in Yorkshire I accept that some hardened Lancashire people will not be happy about this but this is the way that I make it , sorry.

The dish you are going to cook this in the oven is very important.  You want a casserole dish that has a good tight fitting lid.  It also need to have steep side as you want to layer thing in the dish as you make it up. 

Peel and dice your carrots and sewed in to similar size chunks as your lamb.  Then slice your onions while you are letting a  pan warm on the stove. Add the onions to the pan and let them start to cook.  Now in a bag get your lamb and add the flour to it and some salt and pepper.  Shake the bag so that the lamb is cover in the flour and then add that to the pan with the onions.  Cook the lamb until it is all brown on the outside and the onions are nice and brown as well.  Then add the lamb stock, Worcestershire sauce and the thyme and bay leaf.  Cook this until the lamb is nice and tender, you might have to add some more water to the dish as you do not want it to boil dry.

Then get your potatoes and slice them as thin as you can.  Now make a layer of potatoes across the bottom of the dish you are going to be cooking it in. Then split the lamb in half and pout a layer of that, then the carrots and sewed, then potato lamb then veg and finally finish it with a layer of sliced potatoes. Now dot the butter all over the potatoes on the top of the dish , this will help them go all crispy and brown when baking.

Preheat your oven to 180C/350F and pop the dish in to cook for about 30 to 40 hours.  Remove the lid at the last 20 minute to let the potatoes brown on top.

Proper winter warming  food.