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My Aunty Bank's no-fuss Shepherd's pie -3 easy steps

Gotta blog this one! Its my shepherd's pie story. I hope this blog de-mystifies the seemingly complex perception you have about the recipe.

I always wanted to have it on my christmas menu but each time I found a recipe, the ingredient list looked so long,id close it and pick something else. One day I was chatting with my Dad's Big sister who loves to cook. I have memories of eating her spicy yummy crispy fried chicken as a kid each time she came to Nigeria for holidays with my cousins. So,we had a phone chat one day and it crossed my mind that she would be a pro at cooking English food,i decided to ask if she had a simple shepherds pie recipe! Voila,here it is! While she gave me the liberty to twist and tweak her recipe(that's the beauty of cooking),i still kept it as original as possible. I always advice myself to first learn the original,then, i can start making versions of it. I didn't have one or two of the ingredients at home and I wasn't going to postpone this yummy meal anymore so I cooked it! What more? My kids enjoyed it! Enough said,lol, let's cook!

You'll need

  • Ground beef/minced meat
  • One small can/sachet tomato puree
  • 2 fresh tomatoes chopped
  • 2 tablespoons cooking oil
  • Seasoning for the meat (I used seasoning cube,dried basil,curry,thyme,powdered ginger)
  • One large onion, diced
  • 2 small carrots,diced
  • 2 tablespoons red wine (didn't have this at home but it tasted great still)
  • For the mash:
  • 6-8 large or medium sized irish potatoes( you can add one sweet potato to the irish potatoes)
  • A knob /tablespoon of butter
  • Salt and pepper to taste (I used garlic salt,its salt infused with garlic powder-one of my favourite spices)
  • A splash of  milk
  • Some love (lol)-makes everything taste better
  1. In a frying pan/ skillet, heat some oil,add the onions and carrots, fry till the onion is translucent and add the ground beef and and all the seasoning, add the fresh tomato and the puree, reduce the heat and allow the meat to cook through.add some water if itstoothick but make sure the consistency is NOT runny/watery. Transfer to a baking dish.
  2. Boil your potatoes,drain the water. while still hot, add some butter, a splash of milk,light salt (remember your meat sauce is already seasoned). Mash up the potatoes with a masher,fork,food processor and spread it on the meat sauce. Use the back of a fork to make streaks on it as shown in the picture.
  3. Bake in the over at 180 degrees centigrade for 30 minutes or till the potato has some brown tint/highlight (looks beautiful I promise).
Tip from my cousin Sayo: add cooked lentils to the meatsauce for more bulk,I have to say,lentils are packed with iron,protein and folate and should be included in kids diet.

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