[VIDEO] Turbo Quick Shepherds Pie
Print This Post
Say good-bye to your 2 hour shepherds pie! This is the turbo quick cheats version – and it was no less delicious whatsoever for it!
Archie was rather stressful throughout the whole of yesterday, culminating in the recording of this video. Funnily enough, somehow a lot of it was not picked up by the camera but he was contrary, feisty – and bordering on delinquent at times! He was much less interested in cooking, much more interested in doing his own thing and basically making a mess! This is not a big deal in itself as our time in the kitchen is not just about cooking. But it certainly meant that this dish was fully stress-tested!
And I can confirm that it is 100% stroppy-toddler-proof, which makes it a perfect dish for this blog!
Preparation time 5-10 minutes
Total cooking time 30-35 minutes
500g lamb mince
1 grated onion
2 grated garlic cloves
1 grated carrot
1 tbsp plain flour
1 large tin of baked beans (we used the reduced salt and sugar ones)
A very generous dash of Worcester Sauce
An equally generous squirt of tomato purée.
200ml of water/ beef stock/ chicken stock/ vegetable stock
Approximately 900g of smallish potatoes (not new potatoes)
Grated cheddar
You will need your oven grill heated to its hottest setting if you are eating it immediately. If you are making the pie ahead, you will of course need to reheat it in a conventional oven before you serve it.
- In a large saucepan, bring some water to the boil and cook the potatoes. They will need about 20 minutes to be cooked but not too soft to slice. If you are using relatively large potatoes, cut them in half before cooking them.
- At the same time, heat some oil in a large pan. Cook the lamb mince quickly (2-3 minutes), adding a little salt and pepper too.
- Pour in the grated onion, garlic and carrots and cook them with the lamb for a further 2-3 minutes.
- Quickly stir in the flour to the meat and vegetables.
- Splash in the Worcester Sauce, add the tomato purée, the baked beans and, finally, the water or stock.
- Leave this to simmer for 10-15 minutes. The sauce will thicken, thanks to the flour.
- As soon as your potatoes are ready, drain them, cool them down with cold water and sliced them into 5mm thick slices. Aesthetics don’t matter too much here, you will get a mix of perfect slices and disaster slices!
- Pour the sauce into a baking dish and cover it full with the potato slices (saving the best ones for the top).
- Grate your cheddar very generously over the potatoes.
- Put the pie under a very hot grill until the cheese has melted and is brown and crispy. In the video, I said I was going to put the pie in a normal oven but changed my mind when the camera was off! It is much quicker – and crispier – to cook the top of the pie under the grill. If you are making the pie ahead of time, you will of course need to reheat it in a conventional oven and perhaps finish it off under the grill.
Please leave your comment here. Your details will never ever be published or passed on to any third party. As this site receives a lot of spam, I have to moderate each comment individually. Sometimes it may be up to 24 hours before I have had a chance to do this. Please accept my apologies for this but it is important or else this comments threads would be flooded with inappropriate spam. Thanks, Nick
(3 votes, average: 3.33 out of 5)
Loading ...
![[VIDEO] Turbo Quick Shepherds Pie](http://www.mydaddycooks.com/wp-content/themes/eVid/timthumb.php?src=http://www.mydaddycooks.com/pieicon.jpg&h=185&w=185&zc=1)
One of my favourites
Along with lasagne (which I just made!)
I love how Archie decided on a more productive method of slicing the potatoes! So adorable.
Looks yummy!
Yum. Looks delicious. And well done on the patience front Nick!
Now, what would be interesting to me would be some more shots of stroppiness/washing up/ disasters etc!
Wonderful videos. Thank you.
Aw thats brilliant such useful recipe ideas,well done to you and Archie,Very cute!
Didn't this say cottage pie earlier!!
I'm so glad I'm not the only one that's been dealing with a 2 year old delinquent in the last couple of days! It frightens me how quickly they go from adorable to rage-inducing and back again, leaving you wondering where on earth you fit in!
Great recipe, as ever, thank you. And even more importantly another example of how to stay *relatively* calm in the face of toddler independence. What WAS he doing with that Worcester sauce?! And did you manage to ungrit your teeth enough after the final shot to actually eat any pie?
Archie was so funny when he was occupied with the worcester sauce and being totally oblivious, haha. This looks really yummy and a perfect solution for my sudden cravings for shepherd's pie. I never thought of baked beans, it's brilliant! Thanks, Nick!
Comedy! When you ask Archie for the lamb and the way he just chucks a bit in the pan – he is so funny!
Looks lovely though well done again Nick.
x
Do you think this would work equally well with Quorn mince?
Cheers Meg
We love a good shepherd pie in our house!
I have some photos of Little E eating my cheats version (also made with baked beans) last week. The mess was amazing but she ate every last bit with her hands and loved it!
yum! so glad you use baked beans as well – always thought I was cheating a bit. Thoroughly stress-tested you say – Nick you look so calm. Lovely to hear how Archie's language increases all the time.
p.s. info re Jo intriguing – hope the musical went well.
Nick, You don't mean a 'conventional oven' do you? You mean a normal, regular oven.
I'm not pedantic.
Mae'r x
Thanks for coming back to let me know, I love to hear stories of recipes working…
I adore this…the potato bit was so funny. I can see Little Miss doing much the same! Can Archie and Little Miss hang out together?
What a great idea not to mash the potatoes. I shall definitely be dropping by again and trying this recipe myself soon, good excuse to get some Worcestershire for Bloody Mary's too.
Great, I am glad it worked Dairy Free. Archie was heavily dairy allergic for two years so I know the challenges it creates…
I just made this for our family meal after finding your website yesterday, it was delicious thank you so much and my 3 year old daughter loved helping out.
Thank you again
Hi Nick – I was introduced to your site by Mellowmummy at Cybermummy yesterday – and boy am I grateful. I'm loving your site and approach – this shepherd's pie is a great twist on the classic and I shall DEFO be knocking it out for my boys and adding it to the list of speedy suppers that keep me sane…
Cooking with little ones is great but I'm pleased I'm not the only one who gets driven bonkers by it too
I think we have much in common.
i loved (love) cooking with my three sons sometimes its funny ha ha sometimes not – like when they argue over the batter mixture whilst all holding the bowl. I think you are great cooking with your son – mine all eat really well and are real foodies because of lots of hands on.
Suzi
thanks Suzi. Yes, there is no doubt that a hands on approach to food really does help develop a good relationship around food…
made ths for my fussy 5 year old ,very tasty and was enjoyed by all would make this dsh agan. Brll site was told about this site by my doctor for my fussy 5 year old.
Hi Steph, lovely to see you here. Chuffed that your GP sent you to the site – and very happy that the shepherds pie went down so well. It's always a big hit in our house too. I'd even say it's one of our safest bets!!! Thanks for your kind comments and I hope you find lots more things to make on the site…