Mutton Hotpot

A late afternoon trip to my local butcher, Frank Godfrey, turned up some lovely looking mutton last week. I'd been meaning to try some for a couple of weeks but the rush to move and finish work hadn't left me with much time for cooking. It's a rare day I'm out of the office early, but I took advantage of a cheeky half day and the cold snap to make an old classic.

I was in the mood for lots of veggies and I know that hotpot is traditionally served with no accompaniment so I went a bit mad on the veg. I chopped everything into good size pieces because I knew this was going to get about two hours on about 160 degrees. Four carrots, a small swede, two white onions, three celery sticks and two turnips went in, along with about 600g of mutton which had been coated in flour and fried until caramelised without. Some chicken stock, bay leaves, seasoning and garlic completed the picture. I sliced some lovely Cyprus potatoes and layered them up after about 90 minutes of cooking.

The whole house smelled amazing amazing and Bri went back for thirds. The snow came the next day...but this was the perfect insulation.