Lamb Hotpot

A few weeks ago John happened to mention on plurk that his dad was making a Lamb Hotpot for their dinner. I expressed an interest and he kindly sent me the recipe. This week was the first opportunity I had to try it out. I was not disappointed.

I had the lady on the meat counter at Sainsbury's (my local supermarket) bone my shoulder of lamb. It took her rather a long time but I certainly didn't have the knife to do it at home. I made the stock the evening before and in fact have a little over that I will freeze for future use (I used bouquet garni and a bay leaf for additional seasoning in my stock).
These are not very good photos but will just give you some idea of what it looked like in process. The second photo, taken through the patterned glass of the oven door, is after the lid comes off and the potatoes are browning. Final picture as I took it out of the oven.

LAMB HOTPOT RECIPE:

1 x 2.5lb shoulder of lamb. (Ask the butcher to remove the bones and use them to make the stock if you have the time- I did this the day before).
1 tsp salt.
half tsp of fresh ground pepper.
1 tbsp butter.
1 tbsp vegetable oil.
1 onion.
2 leeks.
3 carrots.
3 tbsp oyster sauce.
1 pint lamb stock.
2lb floury potatoes.

METHOD:
If you have a Le Creuset dish, perfect, but it needs a lid.

Cut the lamb into eatable sizes. Mix the meat with some salt and black pepper. Heat the butter with the vegetable oil and brown the lamb pieces all over quite briskly.

Peel and chop the onion,leeks and carrots and throw them in and mix with the meat. Add the oyster sauce and stock and bring to a good simmer for about 30 mins.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 150c/300f/gas mark 2 and peel the potatoes, before slicing them into thin rounds (about 3mm is good).

Remove the pot from the heat and cover it using the potato rounds, which should overlap slightly.
Bake the hot pot, covered for one hour, then remove the lid.

Check it isn't too dry, you can always add more stock, Bake again for 30 mins, or until the potatoes are golden brown.

I actually put in a bit more veg than the recipe so it's easy to make it suit your requirements. It does take a while to prepare and cook. However, I would definitely recommend it as the lamb was so tender and the whole dish was a delicious flavour. I personally think you need to serve it with a green vegetable to give it some extra colour. So today it was cabbage.

Embee and I both decided that this will be on the menu again so thank you John.
Sam before you say how much you hate over cooked cabbage I assure you it was not!

Archives:
2008: 2nd Postcard from Dublin
2007: Who would like Pink Boots