Classic Lancashire Lamb Hot Pot

It has taken me two years to perfect this recipe for a traditional Lancashire Lamb Hot Pot (it has always been a favourite of mine, and isn’t the tender yet crispy potato the very best bit?), but today I’m ready to share this easy, no-frills, serves two (but easily scalable!) version of this classic British recipe. I’ve tried making it so many different ways, with so many different vegetables, add ins and even cuts of lamb, but it turned out to be one of those recipes where simplicity really was best.

Made with tender chunks of lamb (stewing lamb is absolutely fine, because that is what we’re doing to it after all), sweet nuggets of carrot and a rich thyme-scented gravy topped with rounds of tender, crispy potatoes this Lancashire Lamb Hot Pot is the perfect dinner for a chilly evening – just serve it as we do with steamed greens on the side or petit pois, and both mint sauce (or even my homemade fresh mint sauce) and redcurrant jelly (I always buy this delicious one from Waitrose that is enriched with a good amount of port!)

And, if you make it in a shallow casserole dish rather than pre-cooking the meat and transferring it to an oven dish, it is also a pretty nifty one pot meal.

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Classic Lancashire Lamb Hot Pot

• Author: Rachel Phipps
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
• Yield: Serves 2
• Category: Dinner
• Cuisine: British

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Description

This traditional recipe for a Classic Lancashire Hot Pot pairs tender chunks of stewed lamb with sweet carrots, a rich, thyme-infused gravy and tender, crispy potatoes for the ultimate British comfort dish.

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Ingredients

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• generous glug light oil
• 300g (10.5 oz) diced stewing lamb
• freshly ground salt and black pepper
• 1 onion
• 1/2 tbsp plain flour
• 400ml (14 oz) chicken or vegetable stock, made from 1/2 a stock cube
• 2 thyme sprigs
• 1 dried bay leaf
• generous shake Worcestershire Sauce
• 2 large carrots (approx. 165g / 5.5 oz)
• 350g (12 oz) fist sized potatoes
• large knob butter or olive oil spray

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Instructions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees (355F). Heat the oil in a 2 litre shallow casserole dish or a non-stick frying pan over a medium high heat. Season the lamb well and gently brown in the pan. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
2. Meanwhile, peel and finely chop the onion before adding it to the pan once the lamb has been browned. Add a generous few grinds of salt and reduce the heat to medium. Gently fry for about 10 minutes until the onion is soft and starting to colour; add a little more oil if it feels like the onion is sticking, or a splash of stock if the bottom of the pan looks like it might be about to burn, rather than just brown further.
3. Stir in the flour and cook for a further minute before adding half the stock. Use the wooden spoon or spatula to scrape all the browned bits off the bottom of the pan into the sauce before stirring in the rest of the stock, the thyme, bay leaf, a generous shake of Worcestershire Sauce, the carrots, peeled and cut into chunks, and the browned lamb. Season well and bring to the boil. Then, add the lid and transfer to the oven for 30 minutes. Or, transfer the mixture to a baking dish and cover tightly with foil.
4. Peel the potatoes and slice them thinly before setting them aside, and melt the butter, if using.
5. Remove the lid from the casserole and fish out the thyme sprigs and the bay leaf. Stir, and then top with the potato slices in a spiral pattern before either brushing with the melted butter or spritzing with the oil spray. Season the potatoes with a little salt and much more pepper before returning to the oven, uncovered, for a final 40 minutes.

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Notes

Melted butter gives the potatoes a better flavour but I find they crisp up better using the oil spray and it is much more convenient!

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