Slow Cooker Cottage Pie

Hello

안녕하세요 

(Annyeonghaseyo)

こんにちは 

(Konnichiwa)

你好

(Ni Hao)

I got myself and Skye into a little bit of a rut to the point every Monday when I finished work we'd be heading over to McDonald's for tea as I just didn't want to be cooking when I got home, so I decided to start finding us slow cooker recipes so that it was cooked when I finished work and we'd have 2 days worth of food, this recipe was originally a shepherd's pie but my local Morrison's didn't have any lamb mince for me to try, so I used beef and made it into a cottage pie.
Shall we get cooking?

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

3-4 thyme sprigs

2 carrots, finely diced

250 g mince beef/lamb can also be used

1 tbsp plain flour

400 g can lentils/white beans

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Topping:

650 g potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

250 g sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

2 tbsp half-fat creme fraiche

Start off by heating your slow cooker if necessary. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and add the onion and thyme sprigs and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Next add the carrots and fry together, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables start to brown, I also added some mushrooms that I had left from a previous recipe.

Next stir in the mince and fry for about 1-2 minutes until the mince is no longer pink.

Once the mince is no longer pink, stir in the flour, tomato puree and lentils, season with pepper and Worcestershire sauce. If you think your mixture is too dry add a splash of water, I used the liquid from the tin of lentils.

Meanwhile cooking your mince mixture, cook both lots of your potatoes in simmering water for 12-15 minutes or until they a cooked through and soft.

Once cooked drain the potatoes and mash with the creme fraiche. Pour your mince mixture into your slow cooker.

Spoon your mash potatoes over the top of your mince mixture and smooth out.

Cook your cottage pie on low for 5 hours.

Once cooked you're ready to serve.

I really liked this recipe and I have made it again since I first tried it, Skye on the other hand wasn't as bothered especially with the mashed potatoes as she's not really a fan of sweet potato.

If you would like to check out the recipe I followed then head over to Slow Cooker Shepherd's Pie.

See you soon!

안녕
(Annyeong)
さようなら
(Sayonara)
再见
(ZaiJian)

Bye

Cottage Pie with Sweet Potato Mash

Hello

안녕하세요 

(Annyeonghaseyo)

こんにちは 

(Konnichiwa)

你好

(Ni Hao)

I was looking for something to cook that would be great for a family meal but also something I could take to work with me the next day and thus I came across this recipe for cottage pie with the added bonus of the mash being sweet potatoes, I love sweet potatoes. I will share the page I found this recipe at the end of my post.
Shall we get cooking?

Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, diced
1 celery stick, chopped
650 g sweet potatoes, cut into chunks
75 ml milk
20 g butter

For the Mince base:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 celery stick, finely sliced
1 small carrot, finely chopped
500 g beef mince
3 tbsp tomato puree
500 ml passata
50 ml milk

Start off buy cooking your mince base, heat the oil in a large pan and add the oil and fry until it starts to soften.

Next add the celery and carrot and cook until soft.

In a separate pan add oil and cook the mince.

When cooked using a slotted spoon, scoop up the mince leaving behind the oil and add the mince to the veg and stir in the tomato puree and cook for 1 minute.

Next stir in the passata and bring to a simmer, cover and cook over a very low heat for 1.5 - 2 hours, I cooked mine for 30 minutes as it was burning and I think I may have had the heat too high.

Next add the milk and cook for 30 minutes.

While that is cooking in another pan heat oil and fry your 2nd onion until it starts to soften.

Add the carrot and celery and fry until tender.

Now add the mince base, mix and simmer for 20 minutes.

Pre heat your oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and cook your sweet potatoes until tender.

Once ready add the milk and mash the potatoes. Tip the meat mixture into a casserole dish and level it out.

Now pile on the sweet potato and spread it out.

Cook in the over for 30 minutes or until the top begins to brown. Once cooked you're ready to serve.

I really enjoyed this dish and it was a nice change to have sweet potato mash instead of normal potato mash. I think I made some errors when it came to the heat when cooking but overall it still tasted really nice. It's definitely something I would cook again, if you would like to follow the original recipe then head over to Sweet Potato-Topped Cottage Pie, as I missed out a few of the ingredients as well as changing the times for my own dish.

See you soon!

안녕
(Annyeong)
さようなら
(Sayonara)
再见
(ZaiJian)

Bye

food dishes: Classic and new recipes

Hello 

An nyoung 

Konnichiwa

Ni hao 

I really need to start cooking more now that I have a few earlier shifts at work, I honestly can't remember the last time I did some home cooking and definitely need to do it a lot more.

The first dish I'm going to share with you is: Cottage Pie, I love doing this dish.

Cottage Pie

Ingredients:

Olive oil

1&1/4kg beef mince

2 onions, finely chopped 

3 carrots, chopped 

2 Celery sticks, chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

3 tbsp plain flour

1 tbsp tomato purée 

850ml beef stock 

4 tbsp Worcestershire sauce 

4 bay leaves 

1.8kg potatoes, peeled and chopped

Butter

Milk

Strong cheddar, grated

Nutmeg

Onions, carrots & garlic peeled.

celery sticks rinsed

To begin with I prepared my onions, carrots, celery sticks and garlic ready to cook after the beef.

Carrots, celery, onions & garlic chopped.

Next I started on the beef mince I added olive oil to a deep pan and then added the beef mince to brown.

Once the mince had browned I popped it into a separate pan, added a bit more olive oil and then put the onions, carrots and celery to soften, the recipe I followed stated for 20 minutes but I did it for about 10 minutes as the onions started to burn.

While the veg cooked I started peeling and chopping my potatoes ready to pop in a pan to soften for the mash topping.

Once I finished the potatoes I added the garlic, flour and tomato purée and cooked for a few minutes before re adding the beef mince.

Next I made the stock and added it to the pan along with the Worcestershire sauce and 4 bay leaves I also added some mixed herbs at the last minute.

I then left it to simmer for 45 minutes and then added boiling water to the pan with the potatoes and covered them with a lid and left them to cook with the beef mixture.

While it all cooked I prepared my dishes ready to add the mixture and mash potatoes. I also pre heated the oven to 200°c.

Once both the beef mixture and potatoes were ready I started on the mash, I added milk and butter to the potatoes and mashed them, once mashed I added cheese, salt, pepper and Nutmeg and mixed it all together.

Once the mash was ready I added the beef mixture to the 4 dishes and added mash to the top and used a fork to spread it out, once I was happy with the mash I sprinkled more cheese onto the mash and stuck them in the oven for 30 minutes. Once finished I let them cool for 5 minutes and then transferred the dish onto a plate and served.

The next dish I made was a Prawn and veg stir fry.

Prawn & veg stir fry 

Ingredients:

Garlic

Ginger

Chilli 

300g prawns 

300g stir fry veg 

Soy sauce 

Brown rice 

I started by weighing out 75g brown rice per person  (I cooked for 2) rinsed the rice in cold water and added it to boiling water and then covered and left for 12 minutes.

In a frying pan I added olive oil, the prawns, garlic granules and chilli powder and heated and have it a quick stir.

I then added the stir fry Veg and soy sauce.

When the rice was ready I added it to a colander and rinsed with boiling water and then added it to the rest of the ingredients.

I let it cook for a few more minutes and then served it into bowls.

Well that concludes my food blog for the time being, hopefully I will get more chance and time to cook and try other dishes maybe even attempt a curry from scratch.

See you soon! 

An nyoung 

Sayonara 

Zai Jian 

Bye