Lamb Hotpot

, from Issue #18. September, 2015
Photography by Damien Van Der Vlist.
Lamb Hotpot

Serves: 6

INGREDIENTS

1½ kilograms lamb shoulder chops
seasoned flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 knob butter
3 onions, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon finely chopped rosemary
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1½ cups chicken stock
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 kilogram waxy potatoes, peeled and sliced 1 cm thick
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
knob of butter sea salt and freshly ground pepper

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Heat the oil in a cast iron casserole dish and drop in the butter. Dust the chops in seasoned flour, shaking off the excess. Brown on both sides then remove from the pan and set aside. Do not let the flour burn. Add the onions, rosemary and garlic and cook for 10 minute adding a little stock if the pan is too dry.

Tip the onions into a bowl.

Arrange alternate layers of meat, onions and potatoes in the dish, finishing with a neat layer of potatoes. Sprinkle each layer with a little flat-leaf parsley, sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

Combine the stock and Worcestershire sauce and pour over the potatoes, dot with a little butter and season generously. Cover with a piece of baking paper then a tight-fitting lid or tin foil.

Bake for 1 hour then remove the lid and baking paper and cook for another 20 minutes. Finish under a hot grill if you want the potatoes to become crisp.

Serve with cooked green beans or other green vegetable. 

The lamb hotpot can be made one day ahead and reheated, covered, in a 180°C oven until hot.