Lancashire Hotpot - made with love and a perfect winter dish

I love Lancashire hotpot and as a born and bred Lancastrian so I should, its the perfect frugal comfort food which will happily blip away in the oven whilst you get on with other things. Requiring minimal effort you can still deliver a wow dish for your supper (or in a Northerner case tea) table.

I decided recently to experiment with different ways of cooking the dish and in my opinion this is the best method so far, ideal served with a green vegetable or just the traditional accompaniments of pickled beetroot or red cabbage.

What you need

• Diced lamb pieces (ask your butcher whats the best and cheapest)
• 3 large white potatoes 
• 1 large white onion - peeled and roughly chopped
• 3 carrots - peeled and chopped
• Lamb stock ( I use essential cuisine - the best in my humble opinion)
• Splash of Worcestershire sauce (use gluten free brown sauce if necessary)
• Cornflour
• Thyme and rosemary - finely chopped
• Salt and pepper
• A little rapeseed oil

What you do

• Pre heat the oven to 160c
• Heat the oil in cast iron casserole dish
• Fry off the lamb pieces in batches until lightly caramelised
• Remove from pan to plate
• Fry in the same pan the onion and carrot until slightly golden, add the lamb back to the pan and add a tablespoon or so of cornflour.
• Stir and add the herbs and sauce, remove from the heat
• Stir again and top the vegetable and lamb mixture with potato slices
• Pour enough lamb stock to just be visible on the top of the potato topping, put lid on casserole dish and place in oven for 1 hour and 30 minutes
• Once the time has passed the vegetables with be tender and the meat cooked, remove the lid and place back in the oven for another 15 -30 minutes until the top is golden and slightly crispy.
• Serve immediately with a green vegetable (cabbage / kale is nice) and traditional hotpot accompaniments

Winter Warmers at The Cowshed, Buckshaw Village for South Lancashire Clandestine Cake Club

 

Yeah, cake club for our 25th meeting (wow that's a lot of cake !) of the South Lancashire Clandestine Cake club we paid a visit to COWSHED on Buckshaw Village, we had a supper turnout of bakers having 13 cakes in total all to our seasonal Winter Warmers theme.

Quite a few of the bakes featured interesting spice combinations and the bakers excelled themselves with their fantastic decorations. Travelling from far and wide we enjoyed ourselves on a wintry blustery afternoon in this funky coffee shop in the heart of the newly created village.

You can find the Cowshed on Barnes Wallis Way (of Bouncing Bomb fame) just behind the Tesco, there is parking just outside the door and lots more in the area. The coffee shop is open 7 days a week and late on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The coffee is amazing and the decor is great and suitably cow themed.

On to the cakes, what a wonderful selection including several which where gluten free and two amazing "Bonfire cakes".

Spice Raisin bundt cake by Helen F

Chili chocolate olive oil cake by Katherine

Lemsip cake by Caroline (Honey & Lemon)

Sticky Toffee cake by Carla

Bonfire cake by Helen B

Spice Coconut cake by Kate

Apple and Cinnamon loaf by Ange

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Date Bundt Cake by Kate G

Plum cake with warm mulled wine syrup by Sarah

Bonfire Cake by Amanda

Also not photographed individually was a Ginger and Coconut cake (sorry Helen R) this is the large white cake with the Christmas Trees in the large picture and also my Ginger Zinger Cake which you can see here.

Internal shot of the Bonfire Cake by Amanda showing layers

If you are in the area the Cowshed is definitely worth a visit.

Pea and gammon soup, a true winter warmer

I have fond memories of my childhood that involve homemade pea and ham soup, If I recall rightly it wasn't even strictly pea and ham, more like pea and bacon bones soup. I  think now a days I would probably struggle to get hold of bacon bones but channelling a similar frugal vibe and finding myself with a quantity of gammon stock and left over cooked gammon, I decided to try to recreate a taste of my youth.

Dried marrowfat peas are available in most supermarkets and also in your local health food store there are  pretty cheap too, as well as being the main ingredient for fabulous homemade mushy peas they are also great added to soups. They are also very frugal and bulk up into a satisfying soup which has that essential rib sticking winter quality that you are aiming for in a pea and ham soup.

All you need to do is soak them overnight (ideally) with a little bicarbonate of soda before cooking until soft with water or stock. They store well in an airtight jar for ages and also have the added benefit of being able to be germinated in a pot for pea shoots for salads in summer if the mood so take you.

What you need

• Soaked marrowfat peas
• Stock, ideally from cooking your gammon
• Leftover gammon, shredded

What you do

• Rinse your soaked marrowfat peas
• Simmer them with stock until softened and the peas have started to fall
• Thin your soup to your desired consistency , add the shredded gammon and simmer until the gammon is warmed through.
• Season and serve with crusty bread

Delicious and very comforting, the equivalent of a hug but in soup form......

Given that this recipe is made using leftovers and frugal marrowfat peas I am entering this post in Credit Crunch munch created by Helen over at Fussfreeflavours and Camilla at Fab food for all, this month hosted by My Golden Pear.

                       

I am also including it in Elizabeth's Kitchen diary "Shop local" blogging challenge as the  gammon was bought from the local butcher and the peas from Booths the amazing north west supermarket chain which has a great passion for local regional produce.

                                

And last but no means least the No Waste Food Challenge over at London unattached and Elizabeth Kitchen diary.