Cookin again

[CleverNickName]

St. Patrick's Day dinner? How about this classic Irish treat:

CleverShepherd's Pie

Topping:

• 3 pounds peeled and chopped potatoes
• 1 cup buttermilk (more or less, to desired consistency)
• 1/2 stick of butter, melted
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 Tbsp. minced chives

Filling:

• 2 strips of bacon, chopped
• 2 lbs. ground lamb
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1/2 cup peeled and chopped carrot
• 1/2 cup peeled and chopped parsnip
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 1 Tbsp. minced garlic
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2-1/2 cups mushroom broth or beef stock
• 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tbsp. dark soy sauce
• 1 tsp. thyme
• 1 tsp. sage
• 1/2 tsp. rosemary
• 2 bay leaves

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 375°F.
2. Put the potatoes in a large pot, cover with water, and boil for about 15 minutes or until tender.
3. Drain the potatoes, then mash them
4. Stir in the buttermilk, melted butter, cheddar cheese, and minced chives.
5. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then set aside.
6. Get out your cast iron skillet or Dutch oven.
7. Add the chopped bacon and cook until the fat renders out.
8. Add the ground lamb, and cook until well-browned.
9. Remove the meat and drain, leaving about about a tablespoon of the fat.
10. Add the onion, mushrooms, carrots, and parsnips, and cook until tender.
11. While the vegetables cook, stir together the broth, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, and tomato paste.
12. When the veggies are tender, add the garlic and flour, and stir well until all of the vegetables are coated.
13. Cook for about a minute or until the flour begins to brown.
14. Stir in the broth mixture, and bring to a boil. Keep stirring, the mixture will thicken as it cooks.
15. Stir in the thyme, sage, rosemary, and bay leaves, and simmer for 5 minutes.
16. Remove from heat, then stir in the peas and the cooked lamb/bacon mixture.
17. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
18. Spoon the mashed potatoes over the filling mixture (or if you're fancy, use a piping bag) to completely cover the top.
19. Bake at 375°F for about 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are browned and the filling is bubbling.
20. Remove from heat and allow to rest for 15 minutes before serving.

If you don't like lamb, or if you can't find/afford it, you can use ground beef. (I've had people tell me that this is actually called "Cottage Pie" when it's made with beef, but I've never met anyone who cared.)

Also, watch the sodium. A lot of these ingredients are already heavily salted from the start (bacon, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, broth, sometimes the butter and cheese too) so be gentle and taste as you go. Consider using low-sodium ingredients--you can always add more salt later.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

That foolproof corned beef I mentioned?

 

[CleverNickName]

Yep, my last recipe has different names depending on the type of meat used:

• If you make it with lamb, it's called a Shepherd's Pie.
• If you make it with beef, it's called a Cottage Pie.
• If you make it with venison, it's called a Hunter's Pie.
• If you make it with pork, it's called a Swineherd's Pie.
• If you make it with tofu, it's called a Waste of Mashed Potatoes.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Thanks for the input, everyone.

We decided to get this particular model (from a different seller):

https://www.amazon.com/Zojirushi-NS-ZCC10-Uncooked-Premium-1-0-Liter/dp/B00007J5U7

What did it was that every last “Top 10 Rice Cooker” list we looked at (including America’s Test Kitchen) for the past 2 years has at least one if not multiple Zojirushi models on them.

 

[TiQuinn]

Zojirushi’s are quality. A friend has a bread maker from them that they swear by.

 

[Jahydin]

We decided to get this particular model (from a different seller):

https://www.amazon.com/Zojirushi-NS-ZCC10-Uncooked-Premium-1-0-Liter/dp/B00007J5U7

Awesome! You're going to love it!

One of the upsides of eating out being so expensive is it's easier to justify kitchen purchases like these. My step-brother and I love sushi and Vietnamese fried rice. Both cost us around $20 each, so my Zoji has more than payed for itself by now.

Oh, recipe for the fried rice and sushi rice for anyone interested.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Corned beef meal pix:

 

[overgeeked]

The best plain rice I've ever had. Been cooking it this way for years.

2 cups brown rice.
3 cups water and chicken bouillon or 3 cups chicken broth.
2-3 tsp oil.

Heat the oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Dump in the rice and stir to coat in oil. Cook for a minute or two. Pour in the broth and stir. Crank it to high heat and bring to a boil. The moment it properly starts to boil cover and turn the heat down to a notch above low. Cook for 35 minutes.

You can portion it out and freeze it. A splash of water and about 2 minutes in the microwave and you'd think it was made fresh.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Why the oil? And what kind?

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I made Traveler’s Stew from the D&D cookbook Hero Feast the other day.

As always I had to modify the recipe. This time I just reduced the amount of onion and instead of dropping it in at the end, I started with it and some celery and fine diced carrot, and browned the meat in the pot with the sofritas.

The change to the onion is because my wife can only eat onion that is thoroughly cooked.

I also used olive oil instead of vegetable oil, and doubled the recipe (except that I didn’t double the onion, and slightly more than doubled the taters and paprika. Oh, and I had to use some better than bullion to make up for not buying enough beef broth.

It’s very good. The meat falls apart in your mouth, the veggies maintain their

Yesterday I added some different elements to it after having eaten about half the pot over a week. I added a whole chopped turnip, half a parsnip, some radishes, a little spinach, about a cup of chopped sweet potato, and made a second batch but with no onion, added some soy sauce, and use ground beef.

When it was ready I added the two together, and rounded it out with some asafetida powder.

It’s amazing. When it gets low again I’ll probably add more taters and a stick of butter, and do a fresh batch with fresh sofritas. I love pottage, and eventually it reaches a point where the veggies of past batches break down and become what thickens the new batch of stew.