Winter Lamb Casserole with Carroway Seeds Recipe

How to make it

---

• Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C.
• Season one side of the lamb steaks with salt and pepper, a teaspoon of Paprika and another of Cayenne Pepper. Rub this into the meat, then repeat on the other side.
• Halve the Onions, then slice finely into half-moon strips.
• Peel the carrots, halve, then chop roughly into wedges.
• Halve the new potatoes - no need to peel, but give them a quick scrub first.
• Have your casserole dish to hand, and get a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add a large knob of butter and a good slosh of olive oil to the pan.
• When the butter is just starting to bubble, add the lamb steaks. Cook for about 3 to 4 minutes on each side so that they are lightly browned. Remove them from the pan and put them in the casserole dish.
• Add the potatoes to the pan. Turn the heat up a bit and cook for around 5 minutes. Keep them moving, and they should go slightly golden on the surface. About half way through cooking, add the carrots to give them a little cooking. Remove these from the pan and stick them in the casserole dish.
• Add the onions and the garlic to the pan. Cook for about 5 minutes so that they have softened, and are starting to go a little crisp.
• Add the runner beans to the top of the mix in the casserole dish. (I did actually 'show them the pan' for a minute, but more because I was running out of space!).
• There should still be oil/butter in the pan. If there is a lot you can pour some of it off at this point. Add two tablespoons of flour and turn up the heat. Stir, and work it into a roux. Cook for a minute or two.
• Add the cup of water, and work the roux into a paste, then add the Carroway seeds and the glass of white wine. If the mixture is still very thick, add a little of the stock. Work anything stuck to the bottom of the pan off with a spatula, and add the rest of the stock.
• Bring to the boil, and allow to boil fairly vigourously for 5 or so minutes so it reduces a little.
• Turn down the heat a little, and add the Creme Fraiche to the mixture, little by little, while whisking.
• Pour over the ingredients in the casserole dish. In mine, this was 'just' enough to cover the contents of the dish.
• Put the lid on, and slam it in the oven for 35 minutes. When it comes out, you should have a lightly bubbling, perfectly cooked casserole.