Shepherd's Pie

Hello, boys and girls!

Welcome to cooking with Varun! Back in 2014, when I called the UK my home, I took a trip to North Wales for the weekend with 3 of my mates; a married couple, Lady Tank Driver and Mr. Informed, and my roommate Ms. Popularity. We rented a car in Birmingham, England early on a Saturday morning with the intention (on day 1) of driving over first to the Llangollen aqueduct (known as the Pontcysyllte aqueduct) and then through the Horseshoe pass on to Conwy, and finally Bangor where we we had booked a bed and breakfast.

We set off from Brum at about 08:30 and after making a couple of pit-stops and some wrong turns, causing the GPS lady to not shut up about how she was 'Recalculating', we reached our first stop a little after 11:00. We pulled into the car-park and started walking from the car to where the aqueduct was. Llangollen being a navigable aqueduct, there was a little port of sorts at one end where a number of boats were moored. For the uninitiated, a navigable aqueduct is a water-filled bridge that enables boats, barges or ships on a waterway to cross over an obstacle, such as a ravine or valley. We walked on the bank along the water from the port looking around, taking pictures until we reached the bridge. The bridge itself was about 11 feet wide and 5 feet deep with a little platform on either side for people to walk on, and as we walked the length of the bridge, we took in some beautiful sights of the surrounding countryside and the valley underneath. While we were on foot, boats sailed slowly past us on the water-bridge, navigated by kindly, cheery faced men who nodded politely at us as they carefully avoided bumping into a bloke who had a kayak in there! After we had walked around and seen all there was to see, we headed back to the car and drove on to the Horseshoe pass (named on account of it's horseshoe shape) where we stopped to stretch our legs and soak in the beauty of the Welsh outdoors. We stepped out of the car and started walking up one of the hills that flanked the road, and because sitting for long periods makes me restless I wanted to climb to the very top. The others weren't interested so I went it alone, walking through the wet grass, around shrubs as I stared down the occasional sheep until the hill plateaued out. Glancing down I saw that I had come up a really long way and since our little break had now become a long one, I figured I'd save some time by jogging down the hill instead of walking back down. Big mistake. Now, anyone who has ever run down a slope knows that the longer the slope, the more speed you pick up as you descend, so pretty soon I was running full speed down the side of a very slick hill, sheep, bushes and rocks flying past in a blur of colour (and the occasional bleat), as I tried not to fall and break my neck. As I neared the bottom, a new problem arose; how in the name of God was I supposed to stop? The hill ended at the edge of the road, and on the other side of the road, was the valley! But as luck would have it, when was but a few yards from the end, I slipped and fell on my bum with my right leg stuck under me and I slid down (surprisingly gracefully) until Mr. Informed was able to grab me as I went past and I came to a halt just before the road. I stood up on my trembling legs, put on a brave facade and laughed about how I intended to do that, and walked jauntily to the car and got behind the wheel trying to get the shaking to stop as the others got in after me. The rest of the day was less eventful as we walked the walls of the once grand Conwy castle, took even more pictures, and finally checked into our B&B in Bangor.

Come dinner time, we walked down the street to a pub called, 'The Bull Inn', and sat there for what felt like hours, just talking and laughing as we nursed our ciders and shovelled away large quantities of food. I had an absolutely wonderful shepherd's pie for my mains and that is what made me want to learn to cook it myself. Good news, I did, and that is what you're about to read.

For my Shepherd's Pie, you will need the following: 

Mince	500 gms. (lamb, beef, chicken, your call)
Onion	1 large
Carrot	1 large
Stock cubes	2 (I generally use chicken)
Worcestershire sauce	splash
Potatoes	4-5 large
Tomato puree	dollop (or 2 tbsp)
Butter	big knob
Milk	splash
Salt	to taste
Oil

Prep:

1. Chop the onion.
2. Chop the carrot.
3. Dissolve the stock cubes in about 500 ml. of water.
4. Peel and halve the potatoes.

Method:

Mince:

1. Turn on the gas.
2. Bung a saucepan on.
3. Splash in some oil.
4. Slide in the onion.
5. Chuck in the carrot.
6. Cook for a couple of minutes until they soften.
7. Pop in the mince. (Crumble it as you drop it in the saucepan, don't drop one big lump!)
8. Mix.
9. Cook for a few minutes until the mince goes (sickly) brown.
10. Spoon in the tomato puree.
11. Splash in the Worcestershire sauce.
12. Mix.
13. Cook for a few minutes so the meat takes in all the flavour.
14. Pour in the stock. (This has salt so you won't need to add any more.)
15. Crank the heat up.
16. Bring to a boil.
17. Drop the heat to low.
18. Slap on a lid.
19. Let it simmer for about 20 minutes.
20. Take the lid off.
21. Simmer for another 20. (Make sure the excess water dries up before you turn the gas off. On the flip side, it shouldn't be too dry either. Nice and juicy.)
22. Turn the gas off.

Potatoes:

1. Grab a pressure cooker.
2. Dump in the potatoes.
3. Fill the cooker with water until the potatoes are submerged.
4. Pinch in some salt.
5. Slap the lid on.
6. 4-5 manly whistles.
7. Wait until the steam leaves the cooker.
8. Drain the water.
9. Drop in the butter.
10. Splash in the milk.
11. Mash.
12. Taste.
13. Adjust the salt.
14. Taste.
15. If no one is looking, 'taste' some more.

Pie:

1. Heat the (fan) oven up to 180 degrees.
2. Grab a nice oven safe glass tray or bowl.
3. Spoon in your cooked mince.
4. Layer on the mashed potatoes. (Don't push the potatoes on too hard or they'll lose their fluffiness.)
5. Ruffle up the top with a fork. (Make criss cross designs or whatever.)
6. Stick the tray/bowl in the oven for about 20 minutes until the potatoes go golden and the mince bubbles on the edges.
7. Turn the oven off.
8. Carefully remove the tray/bowl from the oven.
9. Serve.
10. Stuff face.
11. Bask in the glory of your successfully executed dish.

Tip: A traditional shepherd's pie has lamb so I'd go with that! Oh and don't use more than 2 stock cubes, I made the mistake of using more once and it turned out horribly salty.

And remember, overeating is a myth. A full tummy is a happy tummy!