Lancashire hotpot

Dinner

Cooking method: Pressure cooker
Serves: 2

Time: Average - 30 to 60 minutes
Difficulty: Average - a standard adult who feeds themself could do it

Equipment

• Pressure cooker

Ingredients

• Condiment, cube, or tube
• Lamb stock - 1
• Drink or liquid
• Water - some
• Wine (white) - some
• Grain, pulse, or dried
• Pearl barley - 1 cup
• Herb
• Rosemary - 1 pinch
• Meat
• Lamb (diced) - 300 gm
• Oil
• Ghee - some
• Vegetable
• Mushrooms - some
• Potatoes - some
• Carrot - 1
• Onion (chopped) - 1

Method

Saute the diced lamb and the chopped onions in some ghee for a couple of minutes to seal and soften them.

Put them in the pressure cooker, together with the pearl barley, the stock cube, a big blob of ghee, and a bit of salt and pepper. Cover these with white wine, and then add a bit more water so that the whole lot in the pressure cooker together looks just a bit too sloppy for comfort. Put the lid on the pressure cooker, get it up to pressure, and then cook for about 25 minutes. Whilst that's going on, cut up your carrot and potatoes into slices, and break up the mushrooms into pieces.

Release the pressure valve and let all the steam come out until you can open the lid, and then open the lid; most of the liquid should have been absorbed by the pearl barley, but there should still be a little bit of wetness - if it's seeming a bit dry, add a bit of water, if it's still a bit sloppy leave as is. Mix in the carrots, the mushrooms, and the rosemary, and then lay the slices of potato on the top of this pot of tasty goodness in a nice layer. Put the lid back on, get it back up to pressure, and then cook for a further seven minutes.

Let off the steam and take the lid off - if it's still very sloppy, boil the excess liquid off for a couple of minutes, if it seems a bit dry pour in a dash of white wine and bring to the boil again to get it to be a nice moist, not wet, consistency. And serve.