Year Two Day One Hundred and Seventy Three- Shepherd's Pie

Dear all,

Today, with this sudden (extreme) drop in temperature, I decided to whip up some classic, comfort food, a Shepherds Pie. This was actually inspired by Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives... (which is awesome BTW) http://www.foodnetwork.com/diners-drive-ins-and-dives/index.html

I started up making some stock... I mixed a beef stock cube ( I am still a beginner) with water and garlic. 

I then added a [large] cup of red wine. Port would also work.

 I let that simmer away and started to chop the veg; carrots, celery and onion.

 I then browned off the minced beef in the pan and quickly softened the onions in a neighbouring pan.

 I then added the softened onions, carrots and celery to the meet and added the stock.

 After a while, I popped a lid on the pan and let it bubble away..

While the meat was cooking away, I boiled some potatoes and gave them a good mashing (with a very generous chunk of butter. ). 

I then put a good portion of meat in the bottom of the *first* glass pan and then scooped the mash on top. We don't have a piping thingy but throwing the mash on top seemed to work okay. 

And here is the second dish... 

After around 45 minutes in the oven, out it came! It tasted great. I will definitely do things a little differently next time...(more mash, less gravy, or flour in the gravy to act as a thickener). Darren loved it too - it's a new stable in the repertoire, hurray!

And in other news:

1. Here is a FANTASTIC photographer http://jasonboothphotography.com/

Check out his work - it's awesome!!!!