Casseroles and stews have been around for as long as people have been cooking — the kind of meal where whatever’s on hand goes into a pot to simmer together and meld its flavours. They’re unfussy, honest food, and using wild New Zealand venison paired with thyme gives this twist on classic Lancashire Hotpot a depth and earthiness that suits our cooler months perfectly.
Wild venison is lean, organic, and full of flavour, and it works beautifully with the classic trio of onions, carrots, and parsnip. I use wild venison in most of my red‑meat cooking because my family are hunters and that's what’s usually in my freezer, but lamb or beef will work just as well. Browning the meat and onion first adds flavour, then everything softens together in a light thyme‑scented beef stock, and the potatoes on top soak up just enough of the juices while turning golden at the edges. It’s the sort of dish that feels right on a cold evening when you’ve come home tired and hungry, with a handful of simple ingredients having done the work for you in the slow cooker.
This hotpot isn’t complicated, just good ingredients treated simply. The kind of cooking that fits naturally into New Zealand life: seasonal, practical, and a little bit wild around the edges. Serve it straight from the oven with something green on the side, or just as it is. Can be made ahead and re-heated, too.
Tips:
If time is short:
Cube the potatoes and add with the other vegetables at the outset.
Omit browning the meat and onion.
Cook in a covered casserole for 1.5 - 2 hours at 180°C (fan).
Ingredients:
Meat:
800-1000 gm diced venison, lamb or beef
½ - 3/4 cup seasoned flour
Lard or olive oil
Vegetables
2 onions, halved and cut lengthwise into wedges
2 carrots, peeled and diced
2 parsnips, peeled and diced
Leaves and end of a celery stalk (optional)
3 medium potatoes, cut into 1cm slices
1 tbsp melted butter
Stock
2 cups hot water (enough to not quite cover the meat)
2 beef oxo instant stock cubes dissolved in the water or sprinkled over
Several good grinds of sea salt or flaked salt
Watch me prepare this venison hotpot in this short Youtube clip:
Method:
Coat the diced meat with the seasoned flour.
Fry the meat in a medium-hot pan in the lard or olive oil.
Add a little more lard or olive oil and fry the onions.
Add meat and onion to the slow cooker with the carrot, parsnip, bay leaves, thyme, celery top if using, water and stock. Combine together.
Cook on low for 7–8 hours or high for 4-5 hours. Add more salt to taste.
Remove the bay leaves and celery (if used).
Heat the oven to 180°C (fan).
Using either the ceramic dish of the slow cooker or a separate casserole dish, arrange the potato slices in an overlapping pattern top of the meat, brush with a little melted butter and sprinkle with more dried thyme, ground salt and pepper.
Cover and bake until the potatoes are soft enough to eat.
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