Cooking & Baking
Related: About this forumCold weather is coming, so time for cottage pie!
Our video this week is a little longer (only because there are more steps). Cold weather is coming quickly, so it's time to start looking at heartier and warmer dishes. Here we've got a recipe for cottage pie (or shepherd's pie if you use lamb instead of beef!). We made a couple of potentially controversial changes in this one, first by adding mushrooms, second by covering it in cheese, and third by not adding any kind of gravy. We don't use a super lean ground beef for this recipe, so it tends to hold together okay at the end. It's nice and moist without having to add a gravy, but of course you're welcome to wet your whistle however you like. You can add beer while the and vegetable mixture is cooking, or you can go whole hog and make a nice brown roux to mix with pan drippings and wine (or beer!!). Years ago, I worked as a short order cook in an Irish Pub, and we'd add Guinness to the shepherd's pie.
Anyway, lots of ways to customize. You can change the flavour profile significantly by changing the spice mix you use on the beef at the beginning when it hits the pan, but please do season your meat! If you don't season it when it hits the pan, you may find your final result a little lifeless.
geardaddy
(24,931 posts)Really delicious!
Saviolo
(3,282 posts)My personal favourite is potato, parsnip, and carrot! We just wanted to do a simple one for the lid on this one
Demsrule86
(68,576 posts)PA...we are mostly Irish (Some German/ Jewish on Dad's side)...so I always made this...I used to make it as a young homemaker with instant mash! But somehow after being put in the oven and dotted with butter and parprika...it tasted really good...always had an empty pan...and a request for the recipe.
Saviolo
(3,282 posts)When my hubby ran his restaurant, he wanted to make a dish of grits and brisket. Now, he comes from Texas, but he's trying to sell this dish in Toronto, Ontario, Canada! Most people had no idea what grits were, or had a pretty poor idea about them. But when they had his grits, full of cream and butter and cheese, and topped with amazing tender brisket and a sunny-side-up egg, most people fell in love
Demsrule86
(68,576 posts)Yeah there is plenty of butter in that dish...not health food. The dish you describe made my mouth water.
Saviolo
(3,282 posts)Here's a picture we tweeted when it was the special:
Link to tweet
And we also did it with braised pork belly:
Link to tweet
Sadly, we closed last December, but we have a huge tub of grits from the restaurant, still
Demsrule86
(68,576 posts)Or I see you brined it...hmm...with some no carb biscuits!
csziggy
(34,136 posts)I hunted for your toad in the hole recipe thread here but couldn't find it. I wanted to thank you - I have not been able to eat sausage for a couple of decades. While I wouldn't be able to eat your sausage - I am sensitive to hot pepper - your recipe inspired me to make my own.
I bought a boneless Boston butt roast, cut out most of the fat and connective tissue, ground it up (next time I will just let the store grind it for me!), and seasoned it with my choice of herbs and spices with one medium egg per pound as a binder. Out of three pounds of ground meat I made eighteen patties (using three quarters of the mixture) which are in the freezer. The rest I cooked as loose sausage with an onion, and a cut up butternut squash. It was delicious!
And I still have lots of homemade sausage for the future. I can have sausage again!!!!!
Thank you for the inspiration!
Saviolo
(3,282 posts)Yeah, hubby's handy with making sausage, really lets you control your own flavour profile, and of course it helps if you have food sensitivities.
Also, if you're still hunting, here's the Toad in the Hole recipe:
csziggy
(34,136 posts)I don't know why I didn't think of making my own sausage years ago. Well, one reason is that a fantastic country store down the road makes world renowned sausage and I never thought I could compete with theirs. But even their mild sausage is too hot for me anymore.
I have been making my own spice blends for ages - what I call sweet curry, rubs for meat, non-hot taco seasoning, five spices, and more. Since we used to sell herbs and spices in our shop, I've always had all the ingredients and the knowledge, just never the time to think of it!