Recipe: Lamb Hotpot

I'm not one for eating a lot of Lamb, but here is a great way to eat it whilst it is in season...a slow cooked meal that's delicious!

Serves a family of 4 - Cooking time 3 hours

Ingredient List:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, peeled & finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled & minced
2 or 3 chilli peppers, deseeded & finely chopped (green for mild, red for heat)
3 large carrots, peeled & diced
2 sticks celery, cleaned & finely diced
1 or 2 sweet pepper(s), deseeded & roughly diced
1/2 small swede/turnip, peeled & diced
125g peas, frozen if not grown in your garden
400g lamb fillet, diced into 2cm cubes
600ml lamb stock
300ml vegetable stock
2 tbsp parsley, fresh, roughly chopped
2 tsp mint, fresh, roughly chopped
Seasoning, to taste
1 tbsp cornflour

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a large pan.  Lightly fry the onion, chilli peppers and garlic over a low to medium heat (to 'sweat' them), put off to one side after 5 minutes.  Turn the heat up to brown the lamb for 4-5 minutes until golden.
2. Turn the heat down again and add the cooked onion, peppers and garlic to the lamb, then add the celery and cook until they start to soften.
3. Pour in the stock and stir.  Add the carrots, peas, sweet pepper(s), swede, herbs and seasoning.  Cover with a lid and gently simmer for 3 hours, stirring occasionally.  Take the lid away after 2 hours to reduce the stock.
4. Just before serving, put 2 tbsp of the stock into a dish and gentle stir in the cornflour to make a paste.  Add the paste back into the pot and gently boil for 5 minutes to thicken the stock.

To get the best out of this dish, only buy fresh organic lamb and veg (preferably from your local famers market or butcher).  You can easily grow fresh herbs in little pots in your kitchen or a window box, just harvest what you need for a great tasty dish!

This has become a firm favourite in our house, and it's very easy to change to suit different tastes too!  I would love to hear about any of your favourites...