Recipes

• Apple and Blackberry Shortcake
• Drunken Brown Sugar Bananas
• Four Hour Olive and Lemon Scented Leg of Lamb
• Gorgeously Simple Broad Bean and Parmesan Salad
• Grilled Lemon Whiting with Crushed Peas
• Honey Roasted Figs with Butterscotch Sauce
• Just Yummy Peas
• Lemon Delicious
• Melting Moments
• Pecan and Golden Syrup Tart
• Polpette - Italian Style Pork, Veal and Sage Meatballs
• Real Shepherd's Pie
• Soft Polenta with Braised Mushroom Ragu
• Spaghetti with Pork, Fennel and Tomato
• Tuscan Style Slow Braised Beans with Red Wine and Sage
• Up-the-Duff (Tinny Impaled, Beer Steamed) Chook
• Wheat Beer Sozzled Pork Spare Ribs with Sage and Garlic
• Yoghurt Cake with Lemon Syrup

 

Real Shepherd's Pie

1 July 2008

(serves 6)
If you don’t have leftover lamb, use lamb mince. If you use beef, it's cottage pie. The finer you can dice things, the better it tastes.

40g butter
2 medium onions, peeled and finely diced
2 medium carrots, peeled and finely diced
2 sticks celery, finely diced
3 tbsp or more tomato paste
500g leftover cooked lamb, finely diced or minced
80 ml (1/3 cup) Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 sprig thyme
1 bayleaf
all the left over gravy from the roast
1 kg potato, mashed the way you like it

Cooking time: Allow 30 minutes before assembling and 30 minutes after.

Preheat the oven to 200C
Heat the butter in a big pot and fry the vegetables until soft, about 10 minutes, without allowing them to darken much. A lid helps speed this up.
Stir in the tomato and fry to brown it slightly. Add the lamb, stir in the remaining ingredients except the potato, plus half a cup of water and simmer until everything is soft and cohesive. Longer is better than shorter and more tomato paste makes it richer. The mixture should be wet, but not runny. Taste for salt.
Spread evenly over the base of a large casserole dish, spoon the mash on top and run a fork over to leave a ridged pattern. Brush with butter if you like. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until lightly coloured.