Lancashire Hotpot

Ingredients :
900g neck of lamb meat, cubed
1 tbsp cooking oil
butter
4 lamb's kidneys, skinned, cored and cut into bite-sized pieces
3 onions, sliced into 1cm wedges
tbsp plain flour
575ml freshly boiled water
½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 fresh bay leaf
2 thyme sprigs
900g potatoes, cut into 2cm slices
salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper

Method :
Pre-heat the oven to 170C.
Trim the lamb of any excess fat and pat dry with kitchen paper.
Heat the oil and a small blob of butter in a large heavy-based frying pan until very hot.
Add the lamb, a few pieces at a time, and fry until brown.
Once browned, put them in a large casserole dish.
Brown the pieces of kidney.
Once the meat and kidney are in the casserole, add the onions to the pan. Fry over medium heat, adding a little more butter to the pan if necessary, for about ten minutes until browned at the edges.
Stir in the flour then gradually add the hot water and Worcestershire sauce, stirring until the flour and liquid are smoothly blended.
Season with salt and pepper and bring to simmering point. Pour over the meat in the casserole.
Add the bay leaf and thyme, then arrange the potato slices on top.
Season the potatoes and brush the surface with butter.
Cover with a tight-fitting lid and put in the oven.
Cook for 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Towards the end of cooking time, remove the lid and brush the potatoes with a little more butter.
Leave the the lid off and increase the heat to 200C for the last 15 minutes to get the potato topping golden brown.

recipe Lancashire Hotpot