Beef Shepherd's Pie

I got this recipe off Sophie Dahl's cooking programme on BBC iplayer and made a few changes to it (due to necessity more than anything!). Nevertheless, it tasted amazing! So good that I made it a week later (I usually don't repeat recipes til at least 3 weeks or so)!

Anyway, here's the video of the whole episode if you wanna watch her make it (and a few other things) step-by-step. She only makes the shepherd's pie towards the end though. She also does a vege option for the recipe by replacing the beef with puy lentils. However, since most of us are avid meat eaters, I'll only be posting the beef one.

Serves 2-3

Prep time : 30 mins

Cooking time: less than 1 hour

Ingredients:
For the champ topping:
3 potatoes (her recipe calls for floury potatoes, such as King Edward or Maris Piper but you can use any type tbh), peeled, chopped
small handful frozen peas
knob of butter
2 spring onions, roughly chopped
25ml/1fl oz milk
75g/3oz cheddar, broken into chunks
pinch smoked paprika

For the beef mixture
1 tbsp olive oil
1 red/white onion, peeled, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled, crushed
2 small carrots, peeled, chopped into small pieces
1 celery stalk, trimmed, chopped into small pieces
400g/14oz canned plum tomatoes
1½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
½ tsp Tabasco
pinch smoked paprika
1 fresh bay leaf (I used those freeze dried ones instead)
85-90ml/3-3½fl oz red wine
100ml/3½fl oz chicken/vegetable stock
1 sprig fresh rosemary (Again, I sprinkled freezed dried ones from a bottle)
splash balsamic vinegar (Left this out since I didn't have it)
small handful fresh (or dried but use less) flatleaf parsley, roughly chopped
250g/9oz lean beef mince
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper


Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. For the champ topping, heat a pan of salted water, add the potatoes and bring gently to the boil, then simmer until the potatoes are nearly cooked through, about 15-20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, for the beef mixture, heat half the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat and gently fry the chopped onion, garlic, carrots and celery for 5-10 minutes, or until softened.
3. Add the remaining beef mixture ingredients except for the mince and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat slightly and simmer for 4-5 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Keep warm.
4. Heat the remaining olive oil in a separate frying pan over a medium heat, add the mince in batches, if necessary, and fry until golden-brown. Stir the tomato sauce into the beef.
5. When the potatoes for the champ topping are almost done, add the frozen peas and cook for a few more minutes until the peas are tender.
6. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a low heat, then gently fry the spring onions until softened. Add the milk and heat through.
7. Drain the potatoes and peas and mash roughly. Add the warm milk mixture to the potatoes and continue to mash until combined but still chunky.
8. Spoon the beef mixture into a medium pie dish and top with the champ. Scatter over the cheese and smoked paprika.
9. Place the dish onto a baking sheet and bake the pie for 25-30 minutes, or until the potato is golden-brown.

Like most stews, it still tastes amazing, if not better, if eaten the next day :)
Unfortunately, I didn't take a photo of it after I made it (twice!) :( Sorry, will make sure I do the next time! Watch video if you need enticing!

Banoffee Pie

Got this off the back of the Carnation Condensed Milk tin. I prefer to use more biscuit than instructed to get a thicker base and so I can cover the sides properly. I also like to subsitute the cocoa powder for cinammon, but use less probably because it's quite a kick in the face otherwise. Make sure you caramelise the condensed milk properly, because the first time I did it I took it off the heat too quickly and it wouldn't firm up!

Serves 8-10
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Chilling time: 1½ hours

Use an 8" loose-bottomed cake tin

Ingredients:

Base
100g (3½oz) butter, melted
250g (9oz) digestive biscuits

Filling
100g (3½oz) butter
100g (3½oz) dark brown soft sugar
397g can Carnation Condensed Milk

Topping
4 small bananas
284ml carton double cream, lightly whipped
cocoa powder, for dusting

Method:

1. To make the base, seal biscuits in a zip-lock bag and beat with heavy object until you get fine crumbs, then tip into a bowl. Alternatively, use food processer. Stir in the melted butter. Press the mixture into the base and up the sides of the tin. Chill the base while you make the filling.

2. To make the filling, place the butter and sugar into a non-stick saucepan over a low heat, stirring until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves. Burnt sugar tastes yuck so don't do that. Add the condensed milk and bring gently to the boil, stirring continuously to make the caramel. As soon as it thickens and becomes a nice brown, remove from the heat. Spread the filling over the biscuit base, cool, and then leave to chill for about 1 hour, until firm.

3. To serve, slice the bananas; fold half of them into the softly whipped cream and spoon over the toffee base. Decorate with the remaining bananas and dust liberally with the cocoa.

*Picture on the way! Still in camera*