Shepherd's Pie

This beautiful hearty dish was made by my husband. A lovely Shepherd's pie. Very tasty and fed our family of five with leftovers. Shepherd's pie is made using lamb mince and not beef mince. If you want to use beef mince just call it a Cottage Pie.

What ya want!

1kg of potatoes peeled and chopped

500g lamb mince

1 brown onion chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

250g closed cup mushrooms, sliced

1/2 zucchini, cubed

2 celery sticks, sliced

4 carrots, sliced and halved

1 tbs dried oregano

1 tbs dried basil

2 tbs Worcestershire sauce

1 tin Italian diced tomatoes

1 oxo cube, crumbled

1/2 a cup of water

2 tbs gravy granules

pepper

25g butter

3 tbs milk

What ya do!

• Chuck your mince in a deep pan and de-clump.

• Add onion, garlic, mushrooms, courgette, celery, carrots and herbs to pan.

• Heat on the stove on low to medium heat for ten minutes or till mince browned and vegetables soft, stirring occasionally

• Add Worcestershire sauce, tomatoes, oxo, water and gravy granules to beef dish and stir.

• Simmer for 30 minutes.

• Chuck your potatoes in a pan of water.

• Place on stove on high for 15-20 minutes or till potatoes soft.

• Drain water.

• Add butter, pepper and milk to potatoes.

• Either hand mash or use an electric hand mixer to mash the potatoes.

• Place the meat mixture in a baking dish.

• Add mashed potatoes as the topping and spread the mash out till it is equal.

• Place dish in the oven on 200 degrees fan forced until the mash has browned slightly.

Mrs Shelley's Antics!

HHHiiiyyyaaa!!!

Oh my goodness, Shepherd's pie is a dish from my childhood days. It warms the cockles of my heart and brings back great memories. It also is a dish that brings a lot of controversy. People get it wrong and call it a Shepherd's pie if it has beef mince in it. If beef mince was in it, it would be called a Cottage pie. Lamb is used for a Shepherd's pie.

The delightful Mr Shelley joined me to cook this dish on social media. He got up to his usual antics but at least he cooked it. I, of course observed. He is so like me and puts all the vegetables up to his ears pretending they are earrings and does it with grace and a big smile. Should I bring a veg earring out? He does, however, just present the food in the pan on the stove. There is simply a bob and that is it. No leg kick back. Oh dear, Mrs Shelley disapproved. I did, however get in there and do a back kick though. Obviously the dish tastes better doing this.

Oh oh, Mr Shelley left the backing paper on the mince. Lucky I saw it in the pan or else that would be getting de-clumped with the mince masher. Mr Shelley loves the mince masher as much as I do but Ee ba gum (Yorkshire slang) he does not know how to use it. He was bashing the mince with it. I clearly had to take over.

I did not realize at the time, but when I was editing the cooking video, I saw that he pretended to put the mushroom stalk in his ear and trying to clear his ear out. Who does that? Weird! Not to mention gross. With this recipe the kids do not like mushrooms and courgette so I had to get my Kmart pull chopper out to hide it. You do not have to put courgette in this dish but I had a random half a courgette in my fridge which had seen better days so I just chucked it in.

Ooooohh wit woo Mr Shelley tried to kiss me while cooking because he was happy but I was having none of it. I am in Menopause and that is the last thing I need! I threw it right back at him.

It's great being in your own kitchen because you can be stupid and get things wrong with nobody knowing. Oh silly me, you all do see it because you watch my videos. When I chuck my veg in from the chopping board, I always spill half of it on the worktop. Sometimes it goes on the floor and the sausage dogs eat it up. They are always at my feet because they know that this happens and are there waiting in case.

My carrots had seen better days. I was able to bend them and they snapped. They were still edible though. Chuck those bendy carrots in. They are still ok for this kind of dish.

You do not see me using fresh herbs and although they are great, I just think dried herbs are a cheaper option.

I love tips and here is one for you. I always used to take my Oxo out of the foil and crumble it into the dish until somebody told me "Mrs Shelley stop that nonsense. Crumble it in the foil and open the foil and it will pour into the dish". Oh will you stop it. How come I never knew this?

Sometimes it is difficult to know if this dish will be too sloppy or not. I say 1/2 a cup of water but as you are simmering the meat dish you could always add a little bit more if you think it is dry.

I always whisk my potatoes with an electric hand mixer. Everyone seems to have their own opinion on this. Some say it makes your mash gloopy and sticky. I love it. I am all for saving time. I find it creamy and smooth, but you do you.

We were extremely hungry on this occasion and we pulled it out of the oven a bit earlier than we should. It was cooked though as we had cooked it all on the stove. We just wanted the mash browned a bit but we were ravenous so took it out and it wasn't browned and that is ok for us.

For those of you who do not follow my social media accounts, I always post the video of me cooking this dish on the same day that the recipes are posted. My social media accounts are at the top and the bottom of my website.

I hope you all have a great day.

Lots of Love

Simply Mrs Shelley (oh and Mr Shelley today)