Rain,rain go away......come back another day !

"I awoke this morning and as I drew the curtains open in my living room the bright light caused my eyes to squint as they adjusted to the bright warm sunshine. When the torch burning into my eyes turned into a picture in my brain I paused for a moment to look out into this Summers rare early morning sunlight. The view of the park from my window looked amazing. The sun and white clouds were painting pretty patterns across the lush green of the parks earth. For once in a very long time I smiled and it felted good......and then....the rains came once more."

I had dreamt of blogging some lovely simple summer recipes in the months of June and July but when I can be bothered to cook properly at the moment all I want is something warming and comforting as I sit and watch the rain drops splatter as they hit the kitchen window.
Tonight I had a craving for Lamb Hotpot a meal I usually would have as the leaves turn golden brown and I start wearing my old mans hooddie to the supermarket. Here's the recipe.

Lamb Hotpot or Lamb with Tattie slices.

First saute some sliced onion and some diced carrot in your stew pan. Next add your diced Lamb. I love the flavour and the price (Sometimes !!) of the middle neck fillet. It is usually on offer at the supermarket and the packs I brought were £7 (Asda) for 2 packs of about 300g per pack. When the Lamb is lovely and brown add a few strips of fresh Thyme, a TBSP of Mint jelly or sauce and a Tablespoon of jam ! Yes that's right Jam. If I had a jar or Redcurrant Jelly I would have used that but all I had was Blackcurrant Jam so in it went. Not a complete miss match if you think about it.
Now cover the contents of your pan with Lamb stock. You can use the Lamb Knorr cubes to make up the liquid which is what I did on this occasion. Now cover the pan with your lid and let it simmer for about a Hour and a half when all the flavour should have infused together and the meat will be so soft and tender.
Now put a colander over a bowl and tip the contents gently out from your pan into the colander collecting all the pan juices into the bowl. Now pour the Pan juices back into the pan and bring to the boil. I used a Lamb gravy powder to thicken the juices into a gravy. Now place the contents of your colander back into your pan to mix the gravy with your Lamb meat. I add a 400g tin of butter beans to the pan next but any beans will do except maybe baked beans !!!
Now tip the contents of the pan into an oven proof dish. Take a break like I did at this point for a beer or for the ladies out their a glass of wine because with all that lifting I was knackered !
The Stew is done you now need to thinly slice some potatoes.If you have a mandolin then it will take seconds if not you will need to adopt the knife skills of a Ninja warrior in order to finely slice the potatoes.
When you have sliced the potatoes arrange them in overlapping rows on top of your stew. I would not do more than 3 layers of potatoes as this will give you enough potato depth for the dish. Next to get that golden colour to your potato layer brush them with melted butter and the season. Cook for about 40 minutes in an oven set at 180 degrees C.
Serve with some buttery cabbage and you will be warm on the inside anyway until the summer returns ! Enjoy !

  
A few Random iPhone pics !

"Whats that coming out the road...is it an Alien...or is it an oil leak beautifully painted by the Rain !"

Love fish not so sure about Fishing. Standing around on the beach at Cresswell for hours and all you pull out is the occasional bunch of seaweed ! "Give me a shout if you catch out lads and I cook it for you ! "