Lancashire Hotpot

I made this lovely version of a Lancashire hotpot today because I'm not very experienced with cooking lamb and it's a really easy way to cook it. The preparation takes about 20 minutes and the rest of the cooking is done in the pot and you can pretty much forget about it while you get on with other things. I hate eating lamb which is dry and tough so this recipe is a winner and the lamb will just melt in your mouth...

You Will Need:

800-900g (2lbs) of lamb neck fillet and shoulder steak chopped into medium sized chunks (I like to use a mix of the two but whichever cuts you prefer is fine.
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 medium onions or 1 very large onion sliced into 2 cm wedges
2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tbsp plain flour
570ml or 1 pint of hot water wit 1 tsp of Worcester sauce added
1 bay leaf
2-3 sprigs of fresh thyme
a little chopped fresh rosemary
4- 5 large potatoes cut into 1 cm slices ( I used Maris Piper)
sea salt and freshly milled black pepper
some butter

Pre-heat your oven to 170C/325F/as mark 3. Apply a layer of sliced potato to the bottom of a 2.5-3.5l casserole dish. Trim the lamb chunks of excess fat and pat dry with a paper towel. In a large frying pan heat the oil and about a tsp of butter until it's very hot then fry your lamb pieces until they are lovely and brown. Add the browned lamb on top of your potato slices in the casserole dish.

Next add your onions and garlic to the frying pan you used to brown off the meat. Fry until the onions start turning brown adding a little more butter if needed. Now add the flour and stir to soak up the juices then slowly add the pint of water with worcester sauce stirring all the time until smoothly blended. Season with salt and pepper and bring to simmering point.

Throw a couple of sprigs of thyme and the chopped rosemary on top of the meat and then pour on the gravy you've just made. Add another sprig of thyme and a bay leaf. Arrange the potatoes slices on top in an overlapping pattern.

Season the potatos with salt and pepper and add a few dots of butter here and there. Place the lid on the casserole dish then cook in the oven for one and a half hours. Then remove the lid and continue to cook for another 50 minutes. If the potatoes aren't browned enough or if you want them really crispy, simply brush with a little butter and place under a hot grill until really brown and crispy. Remove the bay leaf and thyme before serving.

Extra Tip:

It's lovely to have a slice of bread and butter to go with this to mop up all the gravy when you're done! mmmm comfort food!

BEFORE




AFTER

Banoffee Pie

I was inspired the other day to make this old childhood favourite of mine after seeing someone make a very complicated version on television. This is one of the easiest desserts to make. It tastes and looks amazing and anyone trying it will be impressed with your culinary skills. Great for dinner parties and summer nights but beware of the calories, this one's not for the lighthearted!



You Will Need:

150-200g Digestive Biscuits
70g Melted unsalted butter
400g condensed milk or 400g caramel condensed milk
300ml whipping or double cream
2 bananas
grated chocolate for decoration


First of all blend the digestive biscuits in a food processor until it's all crumbly. If you don't have a food processor a good trick is to put the biscuits in a sealed plastic bag and beat ferociously with a rolling pin until you have the same effect. (Also good for pent up frustration!) Mix the crumbed biscuit mix in a bowl with the melted butter then add to a baking tin and press down to make the base of your pie. A good way to do this is with a potato masher. It's best if you have a spring form tin so that you can easily remove the rim later on. Place the biscuit base in the fridge for about 20-30 mins to set.

There are two ways to make the caramel toffee sauce for your pie. The easy way or the even easier way. No need to faff about with sugar and water and melted butter which can so easily go wrong and ruin your pots and pans. Condensed milk is the best way to make delicious toffee. The easy way is to place a tin of condensed milk in a large pot, cover with water and simmer for 2-3 hours. Make sure you keep checking on the water level. The tin should be completely covered by the water or the tin could explode, so keep topping up if required. Leave the tin to cool before opening and inside you will now have some gorgeous caramel toffee. Once the tin has been caramelised it will remain so indefinitely so you might want to make 2 or 3 so you always have a ready supply of caramel toffee in your cupboard. The even easier way to do this is to spend a little more and buy the already caramelised version of condensed milk which is available in most supermarkets.

Next you should put your cream in a bowl with a little vanilla for extra sexiness and whisk until it's thick and forming soft peaks. Now your biscuit base should be done, so spread your caramel toffee over the base. Slice your bananas. Place some sliced banana on top of the toffee. I like to separate half the cream and fold one of the sliced bananas into some of the whipped cream. I then spread the banana cream on top of the toffee and bananas. Then add the rest of the cream and spread evenly. Now grate some chocolate on top for decoration and there you have it! Enjoy!