Pink pepper lamb hotpot with sautéed red cabbage and mint
Inspired by the English classic of Lancashire hotpot, this dish celebrates one-pot low and slow cooking. The recipe renders a medley of ingredients, including tougher cuts of meat, into a melt-in-the-mouth, easy-to-digest dish.
I’ve added pink peppercorns, which are one of my new favourite flavours in the spice pantry. From a medicinal perspective the pink berries are a great diuretic, which helps with bloating, and have antiseptic and disinfectant properties so act as a simple remedy for coughs and colds. Slightly sweet and reminiscent of juniper berries, they are often paired with mild-flavoured white fish and asparagus, but here they shine with sweet squash, turnips and lamb.
Because lamb is often fatty, I like to serve hotpot with a sautéed red cabbage salad, its pink colour offering a nod to the pink peppercorns that have disappeared into the layers of the hotpot. It’s also perfect with mint for freshness and a chutney or two (my friend Alex from Lancashire swears by a pickle hotpot pairing!).
Serves 6
500g diced lamb, mutton neck fillet or shoulder
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1½ tbsp butter, melted, plus extra to grease
½ large butternut squash (about 600g), peeled and cut into 5mm (¼ in) slices
150g turnips, cut into 5mm (¼ in) slices
1½–2 tbsp crushed pink peppercorns
4 sprigs of thyme, leaves picked
2 bay leaves
1 large leek, sliced into 5mm (¼ in) rounds
500ml (2 cups) bouillon stock
FOR THE RED CABBAGE
1 tbsp ghee
1 tsp black mustard seeds
300g (3 cups) thinly shredded red cabbage
15–20g (¼– ⅓ cup) mint leaves, chopped
½–1 tbsp lemon juice
sea salt, to taste
1 Preheat the oven to 170°C (fan 150°C/gas mark 3). Season the meat lightly with salt and pepper.
2 Butter a 24cm (9½in) high-sided casserole dish and arrange one third of the sliced butternut squash and turnips in the bottom. Season with a little of the pink peppercorns and sprinkle with thyme. Top with the meat and bay leaves and season in the same way, followed by the leek, also seasoned in the same way.
3 Arrange the remaining slices of squash and turnips on top of the leek like overlapping fish scales, and season with salt and pepper. Pour enough stock over the top to come just up to the base of the topping (lift up a piece to check), then brush with the melted butter.
4 Cover and bake for 2 hours, then uncover and bake for another 30–40 minutes, until the top is golden and crisp.
5 Around 10 minutes before the end of the cooking time, make the sautéed red cabbage. Heat the ghee in a large frying pan and add the mustard seeds. Sauté until they pop and are fragrant. Add the cabbage and sauté for 10–15 minutes until just tender, adding one or two tablespoons of water if needed. Toss through the other ingredients and serve immediately with the hotpot.
