Dinner Last Night - Recipe Share

Classic Shepherd's Pie

Classic winter warming family favourite

From Food

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon Welly Boot Extra Virgin Olive Oil


• 1 brown onion, halved, finely chopped


• 1 clove garlic, crushed


• 1 carrot, peeled, finely chopped


• 2 celery sticks, trimmed, finely chopped


• 3 rashers bacon, finely chopped


• 500 grams Beef Mince


• 2 tablespoons plain flour


• 500m l (2 cups) beef stock


• 1 dried bay leaf


• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce


• 1 tablespoon tomato paste


• Salt & freshly ground black pepper

For the Mashed Potato

• 4 kg mashing potatoes, halved (unpeeled)


• ¼ cup unsalted butter


• ⅓ cup double cream


• Melted butter, to brush

Directions:

Preheat oven to 200°C.

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, carrot, celery and bacon. Cook stirring, for 5 minutes or until soft. Add beef mince and cook, stirring to break up any lumps, for 5 minutes or until mince changes colour.

Add the flour and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until combined. Add stock, bay leaf, Worcestershire sauce and tomato paste. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes or until sauce thickens. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile: Boil the halved or chunked (but unpeeled) potatoes in a large pan of lightly salted water. When they are soft enough to mash, drain them thoroughly then push the potato pieces through a ricer.

With a wooden spoon, beat in the warm cream and butter and season with salt, pepper and some freshly grated nutmeg, to taste.
Spoon lamb mixture into a 2L (8-cup) capacity ovenproof baking dish. Top with mashed potato and use a fork to spread over mince mixture. Brush with butter. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until mashed potato is golden brown. Serve immediately

TIP: To save on preparation time, I using the chopping blade of my food processor for the onion and garlic. Then while they are still in the bowl I switch to the dicing/chipping blade for the celery and carrot. Also, I like to use Prima pre-diced bacon from the small goods section of the supermarket. Minutes of chopping and dicing has now become mere seconds!

Scrappers, don't forget to check out this post to be in the running to receive a raw chipboard RAK!

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