Shepherd's Pie

I must say that Shepherd's Pie was introduced by my big boy whom had baked twice for the family. Once for our weekend dinner and another time was baked specially for me on Mother's Day in May.

It all started when I was chatting with my baking kakis (friends) on some recipes and we mentioned Shepherd's Pie.  My boy heard that and commented he baked that during his home economic lessons in school. There were few cooking lessons taught in the secondary schools where the students learned to cook some meals like pasta, fried rice and bake some muffins and cookies etc. etc. All the ingredients were provided by the schools.

So, he was keen to 'cook up a storm' on one weekend. It has indeed become his signature dish. All this mom had helped was to buy some ingredients and to adjust the oven timing and temperature setting for him.

This time round, mommy decided to have a hand to bake Shepherd's Pie for the family's weekend dinner. Since my boy had used minced chicken for his previous pies, I used beef as I don’t take mutton.

Recipe adapted from simply recipes  with some slight modification in blue adjusted to our taste.

Shepherd's Pie - serves four
INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 lbs ground round beef (I used 450g)
1 onion chopped (half onion)
1-2 cups vegetables - chopped carrots, corn, peas (I used 250g)
1 1/2 - 2 lbs potatoes (3 big ones)
8 tablespoons butter (I used 2 tablespoons for mixing the cooked potatoes)
1/2 cup beef broth (omitted, I just add some water)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
I used 2 tablespoons of olive oil for frying the meat.
Salt, pepper, other seasonings of choice

METHOD
1) Peel and quarter potatoes, boil in salted water until tender (about 20 minutes).

Some prepared ingredients and bought
 a bottle of Worcestershire sauce

2) While the potatoes are cooking, pour 2 tablespoon olive oil in large frying pan.

3) Sauté onions in olive oil until tender over medium heat (10 mins). If you are adding vegetables, add them according to cooking time. Put any carrots in with the onions. Add corn or peas either at the end of the cooking of the onions, or after the meat has initially cooked.

4) Add ground beef and sauté until no longer pink. Add salt and pepper and worcesterchire sauce.
Add some water and cook, uncovered, over low heat for 6 - 10 minutes. 
(*Add half a cup of beef broth if using it and cook, uncovered, over low heat for 10 minutes, adding more beef broth as necessary to keep moist)

5) Drain and mash potatoes in bowl with butter, season to taste. (I omitted any salt to the mashed potatoes as the sauté meat should taste salty enough).

6) Place the cooked beef, onions & vegetables in baking dish. Distribute mashed potatoes on top. Rough up with a fork so that there are peaks that will brown nicely. You can use the fork to make some designs in the potatoes as well.

7) Cook in 200°C oven until bubbling and brown (about 30 - 35 minutes). Broil for last few minutes if necessary to brown.

With some wild rocket and cherry
tomatoes ... simply delicious! 

Girl : mommy, have you snapped some photos ?
Mom: yes done !
Girl: me too !
Mom: for what hah ? You have blog?
Girl : Nope ..'We Chat' show my friends lah !
Boy : Okay... let's tuck in ... mom, did you add some fresh milk to the mashed potato?
Mom : No, not in recipe mah ...
Boy : Add some milk to it, texture creamier and taste better.
Mom : Okay noted ... next time ...^-^.
Oh man ! Looks who's talking ! 

Fresh from the oven ... Shepherd's Pie!  Enjoy!

This post is link to Little Thumbs Up event and the theme for July  2014 is Potato 

Hosted by Jasline of Foodie Baker

This event is organised by Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids 

and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY