Shepherds Pie
I just cooked the best ever Shepherds pie, improvising the recipe as I went. I know this doesn't have much to do with brewing, but I was so happy, I have to write it down. Well this recipe would go very well with a pint of ESB.
When I was cooking this, one thing I had in mind was to make this as sweet as possible without adding any sugar. Browning (hence partial caramelization) of the veggies seems to help with this. The tomatoes also help to sweeten, as well as adding body to the gravy. The tomatoes should be barely perceptable (visually and taste-wise) in the finished dish.
Ingredients:
(some of the details are a bit vague, as I was using whatever was in the fridge)
1 tbsp oil (I used cheap olive oil)
1 large sweet onion (finely diced)
5-6 stalks of celery (chopped)
4 large cloves of garlic (sliced)
4-5 carrots (chopped)
3 tomatoes (finely diced)
1 cup of water
1 Lb ground lamb (yes, this is Shepherds Pie, not Cottage Pie)
2 small stock cubes (not sure what meat these were derived from)
1 tbsp Hendersons Relish (or Worcestershire Sauce)
salt
pepper
oregano
8 potatoes (peeled and cut into 3-5 cm chunks)
0.5 cups grated Cheddar cheese (the stronger the better)
0.5 cups milk
Serves 4-6
Method:
(Again timings are guesswork)
Heat oil in stock pot.
Saute onions until translucent.
Add celery, garlic and carrots, and continue sauteing until veggies start to brown.
By this time its probably getting a bit dryed out, so add the diced tomatoes. Let the juices sizzle for about 5 minutes.
In a seperate pan, saute the lamb until cooked.
In another pan, start the potatoes boiling. They should take about 20 minutes. The are done when you stick a fork in, and the spud falls right off.
After sizzling the tomatoes in the stock pot, add enough water to rehydrate, and add salt, pepper, oregano and Hendersons Relish to taste. Add the stock cubes. Stir occasionally and keep it on a low simmer.
Once the lamb is done, tip it into the mixture. I like to put a half cup or so of water in the pan the meat was fried in, and disolve most of the brown stuff off the pan. This provides some extra flavourful stock, and helps when cleaning the pan.
Once the spuds are done, drain out the water, and put in a bit of milk, mash enough to break the spuds up, then add the cheese, and some pepper. Continue mashing, adding enough milk to get a soft, but not sloppy texture. Once all lumps are mashed out, whip air into the potato with a fork.
Put the meat/veggie sauce into a baking dish (for the quantities above, I used 2 ceramic dishes - 2.5 qt and 1.5 qt), then gently cover with the mashed potato. Try not to let the sauce push through the potato. Increase the surface area of the potato by running a fork over it.
At this stage, you can bake for 30 minutes, or until the top is browned. However, since I had 2 dishes, I put the big one in the fridge for tomorrow, and put the other one under the broiler for 5 minutes (or until nicely browned), since the rest of it is already hot.
Serve hot.
When I was cooking this, one thing I had in mind was to make this as sweet as possible without adding any sugar. Browning (hence partial caramelization) of the veggies seems to help with this. The tomatoes also help to sweeten, as well as adding body to the gravy. The tomatoes should be barely perceptable (visually and taste-wise) in the finished dish.
Ingredients:
(some of the details are a bit vague, as I was using whatever was in the fridge)
1 tbsp oil (I used cheap olive oil)
1 large sweet onion (finely diced)
5-6 stalks of celery (chopped)
4 large cloves of garlic (sliced)
4-5 carrots (chopped)
3 tomatoes (finely diced)
1 cup of water
1 Lb ground lamb (yes, this is Shepherds Pie, not Cottage Pie)
2 small stock cubes (not sure what meat these were derived from)
1 tbsp Hendersons Relish (or Worcestershire Sauce)
salt
pepper
oregano
8 potatoes (peeled and cut into 3-5 cm chunks)
0.5 cups grated Cheddar cheese (the stronger the better)
0.5 cups milk
Serves 4-6
Method:
(Again timings are guesswork)
Heat oil in stock pot.
Saute onions until translucent.
Add celery, garlic and carrots, and continue sauteing until veggies start to brown.
By this time its probably getting a bit dryed out, so add the diced tomatoes. Let the juices sizzle for about 5 minutes.
In a seperate pan, saute the lamb until cooked.
In another pan, start the potatoes boiling. They should take about 20 minutes. The are done when you stick a fork in, and the spud falls right off.
After sizzling the tomatoes in the stock pot, add enough water to rehydrate, and add salt, pepper, oregano and Hendersons Relish to taste. Add the stock cubes. Stir occasionally and keep it on a low simmer.
Once the lamb is done, tip it into the mixture. I like to put a half cup or so of water in the pan the meat was fried in, and disolve most of the brown stuff off the pan. This provides some extra flavourful stock, and helps when cleaning the pan.
Once the spuds are done, drain out the water, and put in a bit of milk, mash enough to break the spuds up, then add the cheese, and some pepper. Continue mashing, adding enough milk to get a soft, but not sloppy texture. Once all lumps are mashed out, whip air into the potato with a fork.
Put the meat/veggie sauce into a baking dish (for the quantities above, I used 2 ceramic dishes - 2.5 qt and 1.5 qt), then gently cover with the mashed potato. Try not to let the sauce push through the potato. Increase the surface area of the potato by running a fork over it.
At this stage, you can bake for 30 minutes, or until the top is browned. However, since I had 2 dishes, I put the big one in the fridge for tomorrow, and put the other one under the broiler for 5 minutes (or until nicely browned), since the rest of it is already hot.
Serve hot.
posted by number9 at 8:43 PM
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