So, finally, I have my kitchen back. Hallelujah! To celebrate, and because my lovely daughter was coming home for the weekend, I thought I’d knock up an old family favourite for supper, my Suffolk hotpot. There are many, many different recipes for a traditional hotpot, especially if you’re from Lancashire. Well I’m from Lincolnshire originally and have lived in Suffolk for 34 years so this is my version! Warming and fragrant with fresh rosemary from the garden, this is autumn or winter bliss. Serve with a generous helping of pickled red cabbage on the side.

This recipe easily serves 4, takes about 30 minutes to prep and cooks in the oven for about an hour and a half to two hours.

 You will need…

• Large ovenproof dish approximately 5cm deep and 27cm square
• 7 medium sized potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
• 30g butter
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 1 large leek, sliced in 1 cm thick coins
• 4 carrots, peeled and cut on the diagonal
• 1 small swede, peeled and chopped into even bite-sized chunks
• 1 parsnip – peeled and chopped into even bite-sized chunks
• 800g lamb – I use chopped shoulder or, even better, neck fillet cut into thick chunks
• 2 generous tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
• 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons of seasoned flour
• 500ml vegetable or chicken stock – I use Knorr stockpots
• 3 tablespoons of sunflower oil

To make…

• Preheat the oven to 160°C.
• Coat the lamb in the seasoned flour and brown in batches in a frying pan of hot oil. Lay the browned lamb pieces evenly across the base of the ovenproof dish. You want to make sure that when you serve it, each spoonful will yield an equal amount of meat, vegetables and gravy.
• Gently sauté the vegetables and the leftover flour in the pan for about 7 or 8 minutes until slightly softened.
• Add the stock, the Worcestershire sauce and the rosemary and allow it to thicken.
• Season to taste and layer evenly over the lamb in the ovenproof dish. The stock should just come up to the level of the vegetable layer. Top it up if necessary but don’t forget that juices from the vegetables will mingle in with the stock so don’t leave it swimming in stock.
• Layer slices of potato all over the top, dot with butter and season lightly with sea salt.
• Cover with foil or a lid and cook in the oven for about and hour and half. The meat and vegetables should be tender and the gravy rich and flavoursome.
• Turn up the heat to about 180°C, remove the foil so the potatoes can crisp and brown – this may take about 10 minutes. I have a fan/grill option in my cooker which I use to speed this process up.
• Serve hot with pickled red cabbage on the side.
• In the unlikely even that there is any left, it freezes well and tastes even better when reheated.

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