Hey folks it is Barry here welcome to my virgin kitchen I am feeling a bit sensual today I
have turned the lights off and just using some spotlights so you can see the nice lights
in the background just felt like doing it, I did a new poll to pick our next themed month
and did a twitter poll it was either cheesecake month or british recipe month, now a lot of
you think I am Australian but I am british oh struth throw a shrimp on the Barbie all
that stuff I am british so we can do loads of british recipes and can fill it all with
it on facebook you guys were bombarding me with ideas we will start off with a shepherds
pie it is a perfect winter warmer you can actually freeze it then blast it in the grill
ahead of time you are going to love it if you would like to have a go you need to hit
pause when I click my fingers alright hit pause write down those ingredients I used
to love shepherds pie when I was a kid but this one I pimped up a little bit as you will
see.
We will get the mashed potato on first of all so in a pan of water that is nearly boiling
add in your potatoes now I am using baby potatoes that are sliced up and I have kept the skin
on ok I am doing a little twist on my mash as you will find out.
If you are wondering like I was what is the difference between a shepherds pie and a cottage
pie apparently years ago there never was a difference it was just any meat left over
and you smother potato over the top, but as the years have gone on you know like the monkey
turning into the human, the shepherds pie now relates to lamb because of shepherds and
stuff so for the filling get your saucepan add in some oil, first thing to dump in is
some onion and carrot that have been chopped up get them in there we will cook for around
5 minutes to initially soften up and weep, I do not know why I used the word weep, weep
and soften up those onions.
Next thing we are adding in is the lamb mince ok, I used to find lamb particularly bland
in fact I have done a lamb month if you have not seen it there is a link that I will put
up and down below so it is really important to ram it full of flavour we will cook it
in the pan until it cooks through any of the fat in there I am going to keep cooking until
it renders off but you could pour it away so when it is like that we will ramp that
flavour up give it a good seasoning of salt and pepper also jump in, jump in?
you are not going to jump in I mean dump in tomato puree, Worcester sauce splash that
on there nice and tangy maybe use marmite or vegemite as an alternative, and also pour
on your beef stock give it that a good old mix through together it will smell amazing,
why is it everytime I cook you appear, hey, unbelievable.
Once at simmering point turn the heat down stick your lid on and cook for 15 minutes,
which is a great time to work on our mash, when it comes to making the mash for the shepherds
pie my mum used to make them and it was just mashed potato and pretty much the standard
way but I wanted to pimp mine up so if you have written down the ingredients you will
see the stuff I put in there so like the milk and butter as you would put in mashed potato
but I added a few ingredients and remember the skin is still on my potato so it is a
little of a rustic vibe getting it all mashed together once your potato is all done leave
it to one side where you return to the meat take the lid off and let it simmer down again
for another ten minutes the smells in your kitchen are going to be incredible you will
be flaring your nostrils like that, best I have got, with the lamb mince all simmered
down grab a baking dish, and pour that all in there spread out nice and evenly, get the
mashed potato that is probably cooled by now and dollop on top, before spreading it around
all over.
As a kid I remember my mum raking the top of the shepherds pie with a fork so feel free
to do that in the style of a cat optional cat noise if you wish creates these nice little
lumps, now if you are making this ahead, you want to shove this in the freezer for up to
a month, then all you do is move on to this step so obviously I was cooking so shoved
it under the grill for a good fifteen minutes to char the top once it came out looking all
bubbly it was smelling amazing looking all gorgeous absolutely loving it, feel free to
season as you wish, I added some extra parsley on top when you take a wedge out of it its
looking rather stonking indeed, that is it then folks I think lizzie is rather excited
about british recipes month those of you that keep asking she helps me focus the camera
if you try this recipe send me a picture @myvirginkitchen any tweaks you do let me know love to try
them for myself let me know any more british recipes you have got for this month and I
am going to cram it full of british recipes, see you guys, bye