My Mom’s Shepherd’s Pie
Photo: Bing
Ingredients
For the base -
2 large onions, cut into fine pieces
3 carrots, grated
250 grams fresh brown mushrooms or canned button mushrooms, thinly sliced
8 to 9 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 tablespoon dried mixed herbs
5 bay leaves
2 to 3 beef bouillon/stock cubes
3 tablespoons Bovril
1 teaspoon ground back pepper
5 tablespoons plain flour
For the potato topping -
1 1/2 cups whole milk
150 grams butter
1 to 2 chicken stock cubes
Final egg wash topping -
Preparation
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While the potatoes are cooking, pre-heat oven to 200 deg Celsius.
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Slice 250g of mushrooms.
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Cut 2 large onions into fine pieces.
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Mince 8 to 9 cloves of garlic.
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Add 2 T of cooking oil to a large deep pan. Keep the pan at high heat at all times.
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Add the onions. Stir it around for a minute.
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Add 5 bay leaves.
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Add 2-3 cubes of beef bouillon. It depends on the brand you use. Safer to add 2 first. Taste it at the end and add more if necessary. I crumble them with my fingers into the pan. There’s nothing worse than eating into food and biting into a large lump of undissolved stock cube.
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Add 3 tablespoons of Bovril.
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Add 1/2 to 1 C of red wine, depending on how much wine flavour you like in your stew.
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After a good stir to combine the ingredients in the pot, sprinkle in 5 tablespoons of plain flour. Sprinkle. Don’t chuck a whole chunk in.
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Drain the potatoes, return them to the pot and add in 150g of butter. Mash it up.
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Add 1 to 2 cubes of chicken stock, depending on how salty they are. Crumble them in with your fingers.
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Add black pepper to taste.
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Add 1.5 cups of whole milk (room temperature, not cold).
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When the mashed potatoes are finger linking good on their own, cover the pot and set aside.
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Now back to the meat mixture.
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Place the mashed potatoes in a strong freezer zip lock bag. And push the mixture to the bottom of the bag. Snip off an inch of the bag at the tip of one end at the bottom.
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Add more mashed potatoes where necessary.
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Get 3 beaten egg yolks in a bowl.
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Brush the egg yolk over the surface of the pies. Load it on generously.
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Glide a fork over the surface gently and create lines.
Tools
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About
It was my mother’s birthday.
In her honour, the hubby and I decided to make her shepherd’s pie recipe and to document it step by step for the generations to come.
We are really proud of this dish. It is incredibly good. Kids, especially will love it.
For a step by step tutorial, go to http://www.storyofbing.com/?p=3726
Yield:
8.0
Added:
Thursday, May 13, 2010 - 9:31am