Sheperds Pie

Hi All,
Thought I''d share this one....

700grams Lean minced lab
1 large onion
1 carrot
2 tablespoons of tomato puree
400gram tin of baby peas and carrots
Worcestershire Sause
Thyme
Basil
Rosmary
Salt/pepper
1 clove garlic (optional I can''t abide the stuff)
1 bay leaf (optional)
1 stock cube (veg/lamb/beef) disolved in 300ml water

1.5kg potatoes
50grams butter
50 mls milk (adjust as neded)

Brown the lamb (fry until the meat changes from pink to brown) and drain off any excess fat, then grate carrot and onion into the pan with the mince, then add tomato puree and continue to cook for a little while.

Now add the stock, herbs and Worcestershire sauce. Use your own skill and judgment on how much to add, I''d suggest a teaspoon of each. Then let the whole lot simmer and reduce (technical term for boil off the water).

When the liquid is reduced add the peas and carrots and cook for a further 10 minutes

While doing this peel and put the spuds on to boil if you cut them up small they will take about 20 minutes or so once boiling.

The above will feed probably 6-8 people so what you can do is the following. If you have some tin foil trays, the kind that takeaways use put some of the meat/veg into several (I''d suggest 4 of the small-ish ones) until they are a little less than half full. The rest goes into an oven proof dish. Now make the mash adjusting for salt etc. Then top the pie off with mash, until just below the top and if you want grate a little cheese on top. Let them all cool down and put the lids on the trays, the oven proof dish gets the same treatment except it goes straight into the oven at 200 C for about 25 minutes.

The foil trays can go into the freezer for that ready-meal experiance with out all the sh!t that normally comes with them.

If you can make this do for 8 it comes out at well under a quid a portion. But to make it go even further increase the mash and reduce the meat, that goes into each tray.

Enjoy
LB

if you want to thicken the sauce a bit, I find a tablespoon of gravy granules works wonders!

my children seem to prefer this with grated cheese on top. No idea why - maybe it looks more appealing that way!

and if you''re looking to make a little go further, a handful of cheap porridge oats will go un-noticed in the mixture and thicken your sauce all at the same time!

Mmmmmmm - sounds delish LB!