Savoury Saturday: Di's Kitchen, Lamb Stew

With a household of boys, I need to master some 'man food', so my current menu item to tackle is the traditional English pie for 'Friday Piedays'!

I started off with inspiration from Jamie Oliver's Lovely Lamb pie recipe, which doesn't come in an online version. 

I changed it up a bit because I don't like kidneys as an ingredient and I didn't have all the lamb trimmings because I was using frozen leftovers.

The mixture didn't reduce, so I had to scoop out the veg with a slotted spoon. I did add a cup of beef gravy and some McCormack Steak seasoning to add a bit of extra flavour.

It's a delicious recipe, both my husband & I had seconds...so will definitely be repeated!

Bon appétit!!

 Jamie Oliver's Lovely Lamb Stew

Ingredients 

• 2 red onions
• 2 carrots
• 1 smal celeriac
• olive oil
• 1 bunch of fresh thyme (30g)
• optional: 1 fresh bay leaf 
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• optional: leftover lamb gravy and bones 
• 1x400g tin of lentils
• 300g puff pastry
• 1 large egg

Peel the onions, carrots and celeriac, then chop everything into 1cm dice and put into a large casserole pan on a medium-low heat with lamb dripping if you have it, or a lug of oil, a pinch of salt and plenty of pepper.

Strip in the thyme leaves and add a bay leaf if you've got one, then cook for 30 minutes, stirring regularly. Cooking it slowly like this will create the most amazing depth of flavor for the pie filling.

Stir the flour and mustard into the pan, then add the Worcestershire sauce, 1.5 liters of boiling water and any leftover gravy and lamb bones from the mothership lamb recipe, if you have them. Reduce to a low heat, cover, and cook gently for 1 hour, or until thickened and reduced, stirring occasionally. Remove any bones, season to perfection, then remove from the heat leave to cool. Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F / Gas 4

Once the pie filling is cool, shred the lamb into the pan, then drain and add the lentils and mix well. Tip into a pie dish (roughly 25cm x 30cm). On a flour-dusted surface, roll out the pastry so it's slightly bigger than your dish and the thickness of a pound coin, then score very lightly in a criss-cross fashion. Beat the egg and brush around the rim of the dish. Roll the pastry around your rolling pin and unroll over the dish. Press to stick, then brush the pastry with more egg wash and bake for 30 to 40 minutes at the bottom of the over, or until the filling is piping hot and the pastry is golden brown. Delicious served with seasonal greens and an extra dollop of mustard.