Shepherd’s pie with an Italian twist – budget friendly
Ingredients –
- tomato pasata (buy a value carton, normally no more than 20p to £1 – Tesco are cheapest), it’s basically mashed up tomatoes, saves you buying the tomatoes and mashing them up yourself!
- dried basil
- brown sugar
- red wine (look for small bottles or Tesco’s even do cartons – if not, buy a big bottle and then you’ve got a drink and all!)
- teaspoon of Worcester sauce
- potatoes – get the rooster variety, or Maris Piper/King Edward, or you can buy a packet of premashed potatoes and skip all the potato cooking steps!
- beef stock cube
- tomato puree – this stuff lasts for ages if kept in the fridge and comes in very handy
- chopped red or white onion – it’s up to you, red provides a bit of a sweeter flavour, white a bit sharper
- red pepper – finely chopped
- carrot – either finely chopped or grated
- mushrooms – baby button ones are good, you can cook a couple of different meals from one pack
- beef mince - defrosted
- olive oil, salt and pepper
- grated cheese – either cheddar or mozzarella, cheddar provides a stronger cheesey flavour
- Optional – you might want a bit of garlic or chilli for an extra flavour.
- Double pouring cream or semi skimmed milk, plus a bit of butter for the potatoes.
First you need to get the potatoes ready – peel them, wash them well and then chop them into quarters. Bung them in a pan full of water, get it on the hob on a high heat. Keep the water boiling.
While you’re waiting:
Get a sauce-pan. Pour the tomato pasata in, heat it gently. Add a wee pinch of basil, a wee pinch of salt, a teaspoon of brown sugar, a small (250ml) glass of red wine, the Worcester sauce and stir. Crumble in the stock cube. Bring the sauce to the boil (when it’s bubbling!) and then remove from the heat (to an unused ring).
Chop up the pepper, chop up the onion (hold a teaspoon in your mouth or wear goggles to prevent tears!), wash the mushrooms and depending on preference (and size of mushrooms!) chop them or just keep them whole, chop or grate the carrot.
Take a frying pan and put this on the heated ring, add olive oil and the defrosted mince. Stir it quickly, with a wooden spoon, until it’s brown. Turn the heat down a bit, so that the mince is just cooking but not so fast that it’ll burn. Add the vegetables and stir. Keep this on the heat for a while, turning up and down as needed and keep stirring. You’ll know it’s done when the mix smells gorgeous. Add the garlic or chilli if you fancy.
Turn the heat down – or better, move the pan to a cool ring, and add the sauce. The reason for moving it is to prevent the sauce spitting at you when it hits the hot pan!
Keep it on a low heat for a bit.
So now we’ve got to sort the potatoes. Drain them – with a coliander if you’ve got, or with a small pan lid if you haven’t. Pour a wee bit of the milk (or cream) into the potatoes and then add a table spoon or two of butter and a bit of salt and pepper. Mash them up with a potato masher til all the lumps are gone (all larger supermarkets or even the pound shop will have). Add half the grated cheese and stir.
Now get an ovenproof dish. Place your mince and veg mix in the bottom of the dish, and then put the potatoes on the top. Add to that the rest of the cheese to give it a good crispy coasting.
Bung the whole thing in the oven; give it an hour or so until the cheese is bubbling and a good golden brown.
Brilliant with garlic bread and a cool glass of white wine (or lemonade!)
It will take a while to make but it’s good for a whole flat meal and a lot of the ingredients will do multiple meals.