Food Monday ~ Shepherd’s Pie
Now that the festivities are over it is time for some simple plain cooking.
Shepherd’s Pie
Serves 6 Preheat oven to180°C
1 lb Minced Beef
1 large Onion chopped
2 sticks Celery chopped
2 Carrots chopped
1 Parsnip chopped
4ozs mixed Peppers chopped
1 lb canned Plum Tomatoes
Few mushrooms sliced
1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
Salt &Black Pepper
2ozs frozen Peas
2ozs frozen Corn
1 teaspoon Soy Sauce
1 oz Sunflower Oil
1½ lbs Potatoes *
Crushed potato Crisps
Peel cook and mash potatoes and set aside. Heat the oil in large pan fry onion until soft. Add the celery, carrots, parsnip & peppers and cook for 5 minutes. Add the beef and brown slowly, then add Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, black pepper and tomatoes and stir well. Add the mushrooms, peas and corn. Bring to the boil and simmer for five minutes. Pour mixture into an ovenproof dish even out and spread the mashed potato on top. Sprinkle with crushed crisps and bake for 25 minutes.
* I sometimes use half potatoes and half Swede cooked together and mashed.
Joe Scanlon said,
January 5, 2009 at 8:05 am
Can’t wait to have a go at this! Thanks!
steph said,
January 5, 2009 at 8:38 am
Yum!
I like your ideas for jizzing up the potato topping.
Magpie11 said,
January 5, 2009 at 10:52 am
Veery interesting idea those crisps…
try half potato and half celeriac!…thinking about it half spud and half parsnip might work!
My mother, ever the pedant, used to say that beef made cottage pie and lamb or mutton made shepherds’ pie!
Grannymar said,
January 5, 2009 at 12:39 pm
@Joe - Enjoy!
@Steph - Looks like I am not the only one.
@Magpie - Thanks for the extra tips.
I know about the beef/lamb debate, but I actually prefer the former.
I have heard of someone who minces the tailend of cooked roasts, be it chicken, beef, ham, lamb or pork; then freezes them for later use. So on a lazy day she pulls out all the bits and mixes what ever she has, to make a cottage type pie! Each mouthful would have a different flavour…
Magpie11 said,
January 5, 2009 at 12:54 pm
We rarely have left overs from roasts because they are great cold or in sandwiches… The exceptions being lamb and Mutton as the fat is not very nice when cold..that’s then frozen for curries or Shepherds’ Pie
Having said that we sometimes have a mixed meat and game pie…chicken, pheasant , pork, Turkey…even guinea fowl…..the pheasant and Guinea fowl only when it’s reduced at Sainsburger’s or else where.
Grannymar said,
January 5, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Magpie,
I am talking about when there are only a couple of ozs left. Now your game pie sounds tasty. What day am I coming over for that
K8 said,
January 5, 2009 at 6:21 pm
You know a rumour I heard once is actually very true:
Add 1 or two squares of dark chocolate to the recipe when you’re boiling down the liquids!
It complements the taste of the beef very well, and counteracts the bitterness from the tomatoes. Who’da thought?
(Works for spag. bol/lasagne etc… too!)
Grannymar said,
January 5, 2009 at 6:28 pm
K8,
Dark Chocolate is good for my wonky ticker, so I will give it a go!
wisewebwoman said,
January 5, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Very similar to my recipe GM except for no corn (doesn’t agree with me) and I use mushy peas which gives a really great consistency.’m hungry reading it
XO
WWW
Grannymar said,
January 5, 2009 at 8:08 pm
WWW,
At this stage I use what ever vegetables I have, green beans go in if I have some. I try to make it as colourful as possible.
Magpie11 said,
January 5, 2009 at 8:49 pm
I was given some 100% chocolate for my birthday…I mean to say I had some 99% in the USA the other year an brought that back….The idea of this 100% stuff is to grate it into recipes….
If you’re going to use chocolate slap in some chilli too!
annie said,
January 5, 2009 at 9:16 pm
That recipe sounds absolutely delicious Grannymar. Shepard’s Pie is such a good comfort food on a cold winters day.
Grannymar said,
January 5, 2009 at 11:37 pm
@Magpie - 100% chocolate would be a little bitter for me. Very little would go a long way.
@Annie - I thought that comfort food was about right for today.
K8 said,
January 6, 2009 at 12:27 am
@ Magpie11- My kinda woman!
Chilli’s such an excellent invention.
Grannymar said,
January 6, 2009 at 9:04 am
K8
Several people who comment here see Magpie as female, but I know otherwise, his beard is a bit of a give away.
Sorry Sir!
He does have some interesting ideas on the cooking front.
Magpie11 said,
January 6, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Oh! it’s okay…..there are worse things than being described as a woman…….(temptation to throw a cat amongst the pigeons and say, “Not many!”)
As a primary teacher you get used to little ones saying, “Meees” Please Mees!”…one effective reply used to be “I’m not a bearded lady and I haven’t escaped from a circus.” This would be followed by blank looks or laughter….
As for interesting ideas…I’m nervous of that phrase…I’m all too aware of “Living in Interesting times.”
BTw I was given a bar of Chilli Chocolate a couple of weeks before Christmas…lovely! After all they both have their origins in Central America … what more natural combination can you think of?
Grannymar said,
January 6, 2009 at 7:34 pm
Magpie,
Chilli Chocolate - Did you read Chocolat by Joanne Harris?
Mo said,
January 6, 2009 at 8:55 pm
Met Grannymar in a local hotel and hmmmm thought id peep
Ill be back lol !!
Grannymar said,
January 6, 2009 at 9:01 pm
Mo,
Hello and welcome to the party. Join in and add to the fun.
Mo said,
January 6, 2009 at 9:12 pm
Grannymar
Thank you
- Will get the jiff of it and hopefully you will see me around peepin in over your shoulder lol
Take Care
Grannymar said,
January 6, 2009 at 9:17 pm
Mo,
We all had to learn at one time, you are doing rightly!
d@\/e said,
January 7, 2009 at 11:57 am
Mo,
It’d be good to see a receptionist blogging too hint hint
Magpie11 said,
January 7, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Nooo! Nor seen the film>.it was on the box recently too.
Little Links - Thursday January 8th 2009 | Joe Scanlon said,
January 8, 2009 at 12:26 am
[...] Yum yum yum Shepherd’s Pie from Grannymar. [...]