Monday 17 August 2015

Shepherds Pie (Beef)

A good and wholesome dish, especially good in the winter to warm you up. Pretty versatile too as you can put any veg you fancy in.


Ingredients



  • 500g Beef Steak Mince
  • 500g sliced Carrots
  • 250g of sliced Onion
  • 50g of sliced Mushrooms
  • 125g of Celery
  • a pinch of Thyme
  • 125g of White Wine
  • 125g of Beef Stock
  • 1 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 tbsp of Tomato Puree
  • 500g of Potatoes
  • 2 Egg Yolks
  • 120g of Butter
  • Canola/Rapeseed Oil
  • Seasoning

I forgot to take a photo so have 'borrowed' this one from lovefood.com looks pretty similar to me!


Method



Peel and cut the potatoes into chunks. Put them in cold salted water then bring to the boil. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or so. This will depend upon the potato - I find UK potatoes a lot harder than the ones I use in Spain so take a lot longer to become soft, Once soft mash them with a potato masher - they need to be soft enough to mash to a smooth paste so that you can pipe it in an artistic stylee onto the mince. If you cook them too long the potatoes will become a starchy mush (or go to lob as it is known around here). Add the butter and mix until the butter has melted and has combined evenly with the potato. Put to one side while you deal with the meat.

Fry the mince in a couple of tablespoonfuls of oil until it is browned. Drain off excess water/oil and then add the vegetables. Continue cooking for a further five minutes before adding the wine (I used Sherry last time as I don't tend to have white wine in). Cook until the vegetables are beginning to soften but still have a bit of texture. Pay special attention to the carrots as you don't want them to be hard.

Add the stock, tomato puree, Worcestershire sauce and simmer until there is very little free liquid. You don't want it dry though. Season and put in your casserole dish.

Mix two egg yolks into the mash and then put the potato in a piping bag. Pipe the potato onto the mash in whatever artistic way you feel like. Alternatively, if you can't be bothered to pipe it, spoon it on, smooth it with a spoon then make little peaks with a fork, 

Cook in the oven at 200°C (180°C Fan) for 30 minutes.

Dead easy!