Shepherd's Pie

Weather for Te Awamutu today

Season :
Summer
Forecast :
Clear
Temp : 28°C | 14°C
Current :
Partly Cloudy With Extreme UV(11) Warning
Temp : 26°C

Salam, Kia Ora...

Its another beautiful sunny day today.  Not too hot, just nice.  I'm sure its gonna be scorching hot from 2pm onwards.  Don't really like it bcos I usually cook dinner at abt 4.30pm, can imagine how hot and sweaty it will be slaving in front of the stove.  Not complaining in fact,  alhamdullilah, thank God, with this beautiful sunshine weather, my washing gets dry in no time.  Only thing is that I still have that laundry basket filled with clean clothes from my previous washing which are still pending, to be folded and ironed....huhuhu.

Yesterday, I defrosted some minced meat planning to make shepherd's pie.  I've never make SP before.  So, I went blog walking to look for SP's recipe.  I know its easy to make but I just want a rough idea on what the ingredients will be.  Went to a few famous blogger's blog and it was unbelievable for me to know that none of them has this recipe in their collection...hehehez :D

So, I googled the recipe and decided to use Rachel Ray's recipe.  I did make a few amendments to the ingredients and used a 2 litre baking dish to bake the SP.  At the end of the day, we really enjoyed the SP and before we knew it half of the SP was gone.  Packed half of the leftover for hb's lunch and the other half for mine and Jannah's lunch today ;) 

The 1st picture is hb's hand, not mine...hahahaz.  He was enjoying, playing around with the potato ricer....aiyayayayay

Adapted from Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Meals with a few amendments by me towards the original recipe.

Ingredients

For Mashed Potato:

• 1-1.5 kg potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For Minced Meat Base:

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
• 1/2 kg minced beef or lamb (I used beef) 
• 3 handfuls of frozen mixed veggies
• 1 clove garlic finely chopped 
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup beef stock or broth  (I used half a cube of beef stock and add 1 cup water)
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 cup grated cheese (I used Colby)

Method:

- Boil potatoes in salted water until tender, about 12 minutes. Drain potatoes and pour them into a bowl.  Add butter and milk into potatoes and mash until potatoes are almost smooth.
- While potatoes boil, preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add oil to hot pan with beef or lamb. Season meat with salt and pepper.
- Brown and crumble meat for 3 or 4 minutes. If you are using lamb and the pan is fatty, spoon away some of the drippings.
- Add mixed veggies, garlic and onion to the meat. Cook veggies with meat 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
- In a second small skillet over medium heat cook butter and flour together 2 minutes.
- Whisk in broth and add Worcestershire Sauce. Thicken gravy 1 minute. Add gravy to meat and vegetables.
- Preheat broiler to high. Fill a small rectangular casserole with meat and vegetable mixture.
- Spoon potatoes over meat evenly. Top potatoes with paprika and broil 6 to 8 inches from the heat until potatoes are evenly browned. Top casserole dish with chopped parsley and serve .


How I assembled the Shepherd's Pie :

1. Fill the baking dish with the cooked minced meat. I used a 2 litre baking dish.
2. Spoon half of the mashed potatoes on top of the meat.
3. Sprinkle the grated cheese.
4. Piped the rest of the mashed potato on top of the cheese or you can just spoon the rest of the mashed potato on top of the cheese.
5. Bake in a 190-200 degrees fan forced oven for 15 minutes or until cheese melts.

Me Te Aroha...With Love,
Anie ;)