- Toss the meat in the flour that has been seasoned with salt and pepper.
- Fry the meat in the butter over a medium to high heat in a large frying pan or skillet until browned, turning constantly. Remove the sealed, browned meat and put it in a slow cooker. NB: Some slow cookers have a sauté feature that you can do this in.
- Add the onions and carrots to the meat in the slow cooker. Pour in the lamb stock and season to taste with more salt and pepper if necessary.
- Cook on Slow for 6 hours, or cook in the pressure cooker function for 30 minutes.
- Just before the casserole is cooked, preheat the oven to 200˚C / 180˚C fan / Gas 6.
- To make the garlic scone dumplings, add the suet to the flour and then add the buttermilk very carefully and slowly, mixing in between, until the dumpling dough is soft but not too sticky.
- Press the scone mixture out on a floured board and stamp out scone shapes, or make small balls of the scone dough.
- Spoon the lamb casserole into a large oven-proof dish, and arrange the scone dumplings over the hot casserole. NB: The casserole must still be hot so the underside of the scone dumplings cook underneath.
- Bake uncovered for 20 to 25 minutes or until the scone dumplings have risen and are crusty, crispy and golden brown.
- Serve immediately with steamed seasonal vegetables and mashed potatoes.
For conventional oven cooking:
Put the meat into a suitable sized oven proof casserole dish. Add the vegetables, the lamb stock and the seasoning, mix well, cover with a lid and place into a preheated oven 170˚C / 150˚C / Gas 3 for 2 hours, or until the lamb is tender.