Shepherd's Pie

My sister laughs at me when I spend a while taking photos of food, because she knows that most of the time I only ever upload one out of the many that I take. So today, I give you two pictures!

Most of the time I'm just super lazy when it comes to photographing food, especially food that is hot and I eat right away because I've got to all the effort of making it- I'm not waiting for it to go cold just so that I can get a good picture!

I've been making these pies for years, my family absolutely loves them- they're demolished every single time I make it! But I've never had a chance to post this on my blog because I've never managed to take any presentable photos of them. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever taken any picture of it....except that time we miraculously had two left over (I made a double batch haha) and I tried to take a photo of it before I reheated it in the oven, but it looked terrible because you could tell the pies were cold so I gave up ;)

Shepherd's Pie Recipe
Recipe based on one found on taste.com.au (but has been tweaked significantly)

1kg (around 5) potatoes, chopped coarsely
30g butter
1/4C milk
30g shredded cheddar cheese
10g finely chopped onion
salt and pepper, to taste

1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 Medium Brown onion, chopped finely
5 Carrots, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, crushed
4Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
450g beef mince
15g plain flour (2 Tbsp)
3Tbsp tomato sauce
1C water
1.5C frozen peas/vegetables
30g shredded cheddar

1. To prepare the potatoes: bring pot of salted water to boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender but firm (around 15 min). Drain and mash. Mix in butter, onion and shredded cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 190degC. Blanch carrots in boiling water
3. Heat oil in a large frying pan. Add onions and garlic and cook until onions are clear. Add beef and carrot and cook until well browned (around 5 minutes). Pour off excess fat and then stir in flour and cook for another minute. Add tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, gravy mix and water. When it starts to thicken, add in the frozen vegetables.
4. Spread the beef mixture in an even layer in a casserole dish (or I use 6 ramekins for indiviudal servings), then top with mashed potatoes and sprinkle with cheddar cheese.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown.