Cheese Rolling

a fine sport from England … much more exciting than football – i bet Pele could never have done this!

Shepherd’s Pie

Last night i cooked a great Shepherd’s Pie …all of which got me wondering where the name comes from… here’s what i discovered.

Cottage pie, is a traditional English dish made with minced meat covered with mashed potato and often topped with cheese. The dish is traditionally made with lamb meat; when this is the case the dish is known as shepherd’s pie, though the term shepherd’s pie is often used to mean a variety made with any kind of meat. The meat used in the dish is traditionally beef or lamb though turkey is also often used today.

Traditionally, the meat is prepared by dicing or mincing, and frying with chopped onions, seasoning, and dripping (from the roast) or stock. Other ingredients can include garlic, chopped carrots, peas or other vegetables, mushrooms, herbs (such as rosemary and oregano), tomato purée, and wine. A quick version can be made using canned oxtail soup.

The meat is laid in a deep pie dish and covered with mashed potato, to which milk, butter or dripping may be added. For a decorative effect, the mashed potato can be piped onto the meat layer. The pie is then baked in the oven, making the top surface golden and crisp. Grated cheese can be sprinkled on top prior to baking.

Cottage pie and pie shepherd’s pie are traditional methods for using leftover roasted meat, either beef or mutton, using mashed potato as a convenient pie crust. In early recipes, the pie dish was lined with mashed potato as well as having a mashed potato crust on top.^[1][2]

The use of previously uncooked meat is a recent adaptation, suited to the techniques of commercial food processing companies. Early cookery writers did not use the terms “cottage pie” and “shepherd’s pie” and the terms did not appear in recipe books until the late part of the 19th century. From that time, the terms have been used interchangeably, although there is a popular tendency for “shepherd’s pie” to be used when the meat is mutton or lamb. The term “cottage pie” is known to have been in use by 1791 but it is not known to what type of dish it then referred to

A recipe – OK -

Easy Shepherd’s Pie Recipe

Filed under All Seasons, Beef, Casserole, Comfort Food, Main Course, Wheat-free

Shepherd’s Pie is an English dish, traditionally made with lamb or mutton. Americans typically make Shepherd’s Pie with beef. The English (and Australians and New Zealanders) call the beef dish a “cottage pie”. Naming conventions aside, Shepherd’s Pie is essentially a casserole, lined with cooked meat and vegetables, topped with mashed potatoes, and baked.

Here is a basic recipe for a simple ground beef Shepherd’s Pie. The original recipe comes from my friend Frances Hochschild and her mother (thanks Frannie!). We dressed it up a bit with some veggies and Worcestershire sauce.

Easy Shepherd’s Pie Recipe

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 lbs ground round beef
• 1 onion chopped
• 1-2 cups vegetables – chopped carrots, corn, peas
• 1 1/2 – 2 lbs potatoes (3 big ones)
• 8 tablespoons butter (1 stick)
• 1/2 cup beef broth
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• Salt, pepper, other seasonings of choice

METHOD

1 Peel and quarter potatoes, boil in salted water until tender (about 20 minutes).

2 While the potatoes are cooking, melt 4 Tablespoons butter (1/2 a stick) in large frying pan.

3 Sauté onions in butter until tender over medium heat (10 mins). If you are adding vegetables, add them according to cooking time. Put any carrots in with the onions. Add corn or peas either at the end of the cooking of the onions, or after the meat has initially cooked.

4 Add ground beef and sauté until no longer pink. Add salt and pepper. Add worcesterchire sauce. Add half a cup of beef broth and cook, uncovered, over low heat for 10 minutes, adding more beef broth as necessary to keep moist.

5 Mash potatoes in bowl with remainder of butter, season to taste.

6 Place beef and onions in baking dish. Distribute mashed potatoes on top. Rough up with a fork so that there are peaks that will brown nicely. You can use the fork to make some designs in the potatoes as well.

7 Cook in 400 degree oven until bubbling and brown (about 30 minutes). Broil for last few minutes if necessary to brown.

Serves four.

YUM!

Listening from the BBC about Food

Food glorious Food

now i know that you all think English food is bad

well as we discussed last week its not all so bad

if you’d like a few recipes from england – try here

the listening that we also used in class should be here

BBC People and Places – Food