okay i have a good one for sheppards pie - given to me by a drunk englishman lol - i haven't tried it yet, meant to be nice tho.
brown mince, and onions and garlic
then apparently this is the big secret - add gravy and lots of it
then add some vegies ie peas, carrots and corn etc - he just puts in some frozen ones just before finishing. then let it cook so it is not to runny and not to thick just nice.
put in a casserole dish and put mashed potato over the top then sprinkle with grated cheese - put into 180 oven and cook for a little while
this is about exactly what he told me lol, he was drunk but he swears it is the best thing he cooks - his dp vouched for it.
as i said i haven't tried it yet but will be when the weather cools a bit.
Hey Dan
I make Chicken casserole sorta similar to a beef stew i suppose, but, in the slow cooker.
Just chicken, stock, black sauce, tomatoe sauce, curry powder, abit of mixed herbs, diced onion, carrot, potatoe. And then just just cover with water, like, leave a few bits sticking above the water. And salt.
When nearly cooked, just add some frozen mixed peas and corn, and if you like, some fresh mushrooms.
I serve with either rice, or mash potatoe.
The secret with beef is apparently, leaving it to simmer away for ages, meaning that if you put in abit to much water, will eventually evporate anyway,
Maybe with chicken, ad smaller amounts of water. (or, sometimes, i use a tin of tomatoes instead - generally, enough liquid in that)
Last edited by ~Debbie~; March 20th, 2007 at 11:41 AM.
I make my shepards pie a little like what Michelle just posted.
I add tin tomatoes to mine.
My dad used to add anything to his when he used to make it. Anything he thought was good in the cupboard went in.
One other way is cook the mince, add some gravy and then baked beans. Do he mash potato with cheese on top and cook in the oven until cheese has melted.
I do my shepards pie the same as michelle (and michelle LOL) but after putting the mince in the dish, I put a layer of sliced tomatoes and cracked pepper, then the mash potato and cheese.
I agree, the more gravy the better
Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrot and celery and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until soft. Add lamb mince and cook, stirring to break up any lumps, for 5 minutes or until lamb changes colour.
Add the flour and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until combined. Add stock, bay leaf, Worcestershire sauce and tomato paste. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes or until sauce thickens. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile: cook potato in a saucepan of salted boiling water for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain well. Return to the pan with the butter. Use a potato masher or fork to mash until smooth. Add milk and use a wooden spoon to stir until combined. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
Preheat oven to 200°C. Spoon lamb mixture into a 2L (8-cup) capacity ovenproof baking dish. Top with mashed potato and use a fork to spread over lamb mixture. Brush with butter. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until mashed potato is golden brown. Serve immediately
Dan, just looking at when you are due - why don't you pop some soups in the freezer as well? They make a great lunch when you're flat out with a newborn and also an easy dinner. I made a big batch of cream of cauliflower on the weekend for lunches and lazy dinners. Pea and Ham freezes well and so does chicken noodle.
Also, I made a couple of batches of a basic mince (veggies, onion, garlic, herbs) and froze. When I defrost it, if I want to use it for lasange or spag bol I add a couple of tins of pureed tomato when reheating it and simmer. Or add gravy if I want to use it in a pie. Very versatile.
Another thing I put in the freezer was a batch of premade rissoles (homemade). They freeze really well and DH can cook them. Again, super versatile - you can have them with veg, or cook in a basic pasta sauce and add to pasta, or make hamburgers with them.
Depends, I use various containers - what ever is clean and empty!
To help stop the ice forming on the food, try putting a layer of cling wrap on top of the food (touching it) and then putting the lid on.
And if you have trouble with containers staining, try spraying with cooking spray before putting the food in (works well for things like spag bol).
I bought a heap of cheap 'chinese meal' containers. You know, the clear plastic ones. Got a heap from the supermarket (or i supose you could get them from the reject shop or the warehouse). They only cost a couple of dollars for 10 or so. Really handy but i found that the more you re-used them the more the lids got a bit battered. But that is just from DH opening them too hard and snapping bits off. You can get them in rectangle or deeper round ones. Either are good and they stack really well in the freezer, and you can fit in heaps of meals if you have a deep freeze too. I tended to put meals in the rectangle ones and soups in the other. I don't worry too much about ice forming, coz that just keeps them moist when you defrost. And with soups you generally have to add a bit of water anyway to thin them out a bit.
And coz they are so cheap, if any do get wrecked, they are easy to replace, and they won't stain either. For leftovers though i generally just throw them into a tupperware container, but if you are freezing lots of meals for when bubs comes, then i'd buy the cheapies.
Tupperware rocks n serve or whatever they are called are the best. Otherwise the glad containers you can buy from safeway are fine. Chinese containers tend to break a bit.
Yeah, they're rock 'n' serves Cai. Yeah the chinese containers do tend to break a bit, but if you open the lids carefully, they're fine. I've just bought a heap of the small glad containers too, for portioning my meat for my new weighloss plan, and they are great, but could be expensive if you are needing heaps of them. I bought a pack of 5 of the really small ones and they cost me about $3 for 5. The bigger ones that would be suitable for entire meals cost around $5 or $6 i think for a pack of 3
I've got some of the tupperware mentioned above but couldn't afford more for my getting ready for bubs cook up so bought some called Starmaid from Bunnings (assume you can get them elsewhere too). They've worked really well for freezer to microwave and wash up well in the dishwasher. The lids snap on really well which I liked for liquidy things as opposed to the glad ones. They also stacked really well in the freezer (my tupperware ones are round). I try to be careful with the chinese-type containers as some of them are not great in the microwave - they break down a bit and leach stuff into the food. If you're organised and defrost in the fridge and then reheat on the stove it doesn't matter of course!
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Receipe needed please chicken casserole, shepards pie and quiche lorraine
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