I love Lancashire hotpot and as a born and bred Lancastrian so I should, its the perfect frugal comfort food which will happily blip away in the oven whilst you get on with other things. Requiring minimal effort you can still deliver a wow dish for your supper (or in a Northerner case tea) table.
I decided recently to experiment with different ways of cooking the dish and in my opinion this is the best method so far, ideal served with a green vegetable or just the traditional accompaniments of pickled beetroot or red cabbage.
What you need
- Diced lamb pieces (ask your butcher whats the best and cheapest)
- 3 large white potatoes
- 1 large white onion - peeled and roughly chopped
- 3 carrots - peeled and chopped
- Lamb stock ( I use essential cuisine - the best in my humble opinion)
- Splash of Worcestershire sauce (use gluten free brown sauce if necessary)
- Cornflour
- Thyme and rosemary - finely chopped
- Salt and pepper
- A little rapeseed oil
What you do
- Pre heat the oven to 160c
- Heat the oil in cast iron casserole dish
- Fry off the lamb pieces in batches until lightly caramelised
- Remove from pan to plate
- Fry in the same pan the onion and carrot until slightly golden, add the lamb back to the pan and add a tablespoon or so of cornflour.
- Stir and add the herbs and sauce, remove from the heat
- Stir again and top the vegetable and lamb mixture with potato slices
- Pour enough lamb stock to just be visible on the top of the potato topping, put lid on casserole dish and place in oven for 1 hour and 30 minutes
- Once the time has passed the vegetables with be tender and the meat cooked, remove the lid and place back in the oven for another 15 -30 minutes until the top is golden and slightly crispy.
- Serve immediately with a green vegetable (cabbage / kale is nice) and traditional hotpot accompaniments
