Ingredients
Shepherd's Pie Served with a Green Salad
500g (1 lb) ground beef
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 onions finely chopped
2 carrots diced (optional)
500 ml (1 pint) chicken or beef stock (I dissolve 2 tablespoons of chicken soup powder into the boiling water)
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce*
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley or dried parsley
100g (4 tablespoons) tomato paste
1 teaspoon sugar
700g-1kg (1½-2lb) potatoes peeled and cubed
2 tablespoons margarine
2 eggs
1 400g (14 oz) tin Heinz baked beans
How to do it
1. In a large wok pan, heat the oil and fry the onions (and carrots) until they have softened and the onions are golden in color.
2. Add the meat and and continue frying while stirring until the meat is all browned (no more pink bits). Drain off any fat.
3. Add the stock, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, parsley, tomato paste and sugar, mix through and bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer uncovered on medium heat for about 40 minutes, until the liquid has reduced and you are left with a thick meat sauce.
Add the liquid to the beef and simmer
4. While the meat is reducing, cook the potatoes in salted water. When they are soft, mash them with the margarine. Then slowly add 1 beaten egg slowly to the mash, stirring as you add (making sure you don’t get a scrambled egg in the middle), until the mash is smooth.
5. In a medium-sized greased casserole dish, spread out the beans. Then add the meat and spread it out evenly. Let the meat cool down a little. Add the mashed potatoes in small dollops over the top of the meat, spreading it evenly to cover all the meat (I often use my fingers for the small spaces so the meat doesn’t ooze up the sides).
Note: Make sure your casserole leaves at least 1cm between the top of the pie and the top of the dish as the potato will rise a little and the sauce will bubble up, and if it’s too close to the top, it will drip out.
6. Beat the second egg and with a brush, spread it over the top of the pie, covering the whole area.
After 40 minutes of simmering, the meat sauce will be reduced and thick
7. Bake at 180ºC (350ºF) for 20-30 minutes or until the top is an even, light brown color.
*Kashrut note: Look for a hechsher that doesn’t say “fish”, such as OU-F or STAR-K Fish. If these products are marked with only the OU or STAR-K, then the product contains less than 1.66% fish and can be used with meat. If you can’t find a product with this hechsher, you can leave out the Worcestershire sauce from the recipe.
