THURSDAY is Lancashire Day, and what better way of celebrating than feasting on the county's favourite dish, Lancashire hotpot.

The dish is traditionally made of meat, onion, vegetables and potatoes left to bake in the oven all day in a heavy pot on a low heat.

It originated in the days of heavy industrialisation in Lancashire and was popular because it requires minimum effort to prepare and is relatively inexpensive.

Nowadays many families still enjoy Lancashire hotpot, and there are many variations to the traditional recipe.

Andrea Holden, who runs V-Fresh vegetarian cafe, Blackburn, has even come up with a vegetarian version of the dish that she is selling from her cafe in King Street.

To mark Lancashire Day she has shared the recipe with our readers.

Ingredients

Olive oil
Butter
Half a cup of single cream
5 large baking potatoes (sliced into 2cm rounds)
5 portabella mushrooms sliced
2 large onions finely chopped
3 carrots chopped into chunks
1 red, 1 green and 1 yellow peppers sliced into 2cm strips
2 stalks of celery chopped into chunks
2 parsnips chopped into chunks
2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard
2 cloves of garlic peeled and finely chopped
1 red chilli de-seeded and chopped very finely
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
2 stock cubes
1 tablespoon flour
2 pints boiling water.

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 170 degrees. Take a large saucepan or pot. Start by par boiling the potato for about 10 mins (save the stock to use later) then rinse in cold water and set aside to cool. Next fry the onions in butter or oil. When the onions are starting to brown, add garlic, mushrooms, peppers, bay leaves, thyme and salt and pepper to taste.

After 10 minutes stir in the flour to soak up the juices. Make up 2 pints of vegetable stock with stock cubes and boiling water or the potato stock saved from earlier. Add Dijon mustard to the mix. Pour the stock mixture into the pan stirring well. Bring to the boil, then simmer for five minutes. Discard the thyme and basil leaves and allow to cool. Add the cream (optional, but good!). Take a casserole dish and layer the mixture, starting and ending with potato. Cover and cook for about 90 minutes, then cook uncovered for 30 minutes until the potatoes are brown. Enjoy.