Shepherd’s pie

This is an adaptation of my mum’s recipe <3.

Ingredients | 10 – 12 serves

The ingredients are quite simple and easy to get a hold of:

• 500g of mince
• 2 x 400-500g tin of kidney beans*, drained
• canola oil
• 1 x brown onion, finely sliced (or diced)
• 2 x medium sized carrots, thinly sliced or grated (~1 1/2 – 2 cups)
• 1/2 x stick of celery, diced (or 1 full length stick frozen)***
• 2-3 garlic cloves, crushed
• pinch of oregano
• pinch of ground cloves
• 1-2 bay leaves
• 2 Tbsp of Worcestershire sauce
• 1-2 cups of chicken stock**
• 5-6 potatoes, peeled and diced
• 2 Tbsp of Nuttalex
• 1/4 cups of soy or rice milk

Left: homemade chicken stock in a jar. Right: prepared ingredients.

* If you’re starting from scratch make sure you cook the beans properly.

** My quick chicken stock replacement is to use the liquid left over from roasting chicken into a jar, leave it to set in the fridge and scrape the fat off the top. If you don’t have chicken stock, just leave it out.

*** As I tend to have a lot of celery, I freeze pre-cut sticks. If you also do this, add the frozen celery sticks in Step 8 (I double the amount, i.e. one whole stick), and remove with the bay leaves in Step 11. I remove the frozen celery because in the freezer it gets soggy.

Ingredient modifications

I like to serve this with green beans (low salicylate), Brussels sprouts

• 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese – if you can tolerate dairy

Recommended sides

I like to serve this with some greens like:

• Shredded, steamed cabbage.
• Steamed brussel sprouts, halved with some Nuttalex plopped on top so it melts nicely into the sprouts.

Method

1. Add 2-3 Tbsp of oil to a pot. When it’s warm, cook the 500g of mince in batches (the trick is not to let the pot cool). Add oil if required (e.g. if the meat starts to stick). Remove the mince (at this point you can also freeze the mince for later or keep it in the fridge to start the next day).
2. Add 2-3 Tbsp of oil back into the pot. Add the diced onion and 1/2 of a diced celery stick in batches (again don’t let the pot cool down) and fry until soft.
   
3. Add the 1 1/2 – 2 cups of diced carrots in batches and fry until soft.
   
4. Add 2 Tbsp of Worcestershire sauce.
5. Add the 2 400g of kidney beans and stir. Mash them a bit with a potato masher (no need to be thorough) and then stir. The beans will help thicken the mixture.
   
6. Add a small pinch of oregano, and a small pinch of cloves.
7. Add the 1-2 cups of chicken stock and stir.
8. Add in the cooked mince, 2-3 bay leaves (and the celery if you’re adding full frozen sticks). Stir and leave to simmer for 15 mins or until any remaining liquid is reduced.
   
9. Boil a pot of water and add the 5-6 peeled potatoes. Cook until soft.
10. Mash the potatoes with Nuttalex and milk to taste.
    
11. Remove the bay leaves (and celery if using full sticks) from the mince mix, and flatten out in the pot.
    
12. Add the mashed potatoes on top of the mince mix, and top with cheese to suit your own taste.
13. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes at 180 °C (or until the pie is heated all way through).
14. Serve!