Chicken & Vegetable Shepherd's Pie

To begin, no chickens were ‘herded’ in the making of this pie! It sounded a bit silly at first to call this easy peasy meal a Shepherd’s Pie. A traditional Shepherd’s Pie is made with lamb (or beef) mince but this particular night I had chicken mince and not a lot else to go with it other than a whole heap of vegetables. Chicken & Vegetable Shepherd’s Pie was the best option.

To start, get some potatoes on to boil and brown an onion and the chicken mince in a pan.

Add whatever vegetables you have. I added grated zucchini and carrot and chopped capsicum.

Once the vegetables have slightly softened, add a sprinkling of flour, salt and pepper and a cup of chicken stock. Allow that to thicken and pour into a shallow baking dish.

Top with mashed potato. You can pipe it on, if you have time or if you’re like me and always in a hurry, I just run a fork along the top before popping in the oven.

Bake in the oven until crunchy and golden on top.

This is such a tasty dish and a great one for the whole family. Even my fussy lot devoured it. Something to do with my daughter loving chicken I think. If it involves chicken and potato, I’m on a winner with her.

Don’t forget the sauce! I love tomato sauce (ketchup) on any kind of pie. 

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Chicken & Vegetable Shepherd's Pie

A quick and easy mid week meal that the whole family will love using plain chicken mince, leftover vegetables and topped with creamy mashed potato.

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Servings 6

Author Anne

Ingredients

• chicken mince
• carrot grated
• zucchini grated
• capsicum chopped
• brown onion chopped
• extra virgin olive oil for frying
• 2 cloves garlic crushed
• potatoes boiled and mashed with seasoning, milk and butter
• 1 tbs plain flour
• salt & pepper
• 1 cup chicken stock

Instructions

1. Brown onion in a little olive oil.
2. Next, brown chicken mince.
3. Add vegetables, garlic, salt and pepper.
4. Sprinkle 1 tbs plain flour on top and stir until well combined.
5. Add 1 cup chicken stock and stir until sauce is thickened.
6. Pour chicken and vegetable mixture in a baking dish.
7. Top with mashed potato and using a fork, make a pattern in the top of the potato.
8. Bake in a 170 deg C oven until brown on top.

Recipe Notes

You can use any kind of ground meat in this recipe.
Change the potato to sweet potato, mashed pumpkin, or other root vegetable.
You could also adapt this for the slow cooker except the mashed potato won't be brown on top. Put all the chicken and vegetable ingredients in to cook for 3 hours on high. Add mashed or thinly sliced potato and cook on high for a further 1 hour.

 

Easy Slow Cooker Beef & Potato Curry

Things have got awful busy for us this year but in a good way. It was totally unexpected, me getting the job in my children’s school canteen but I’m thoroughly enjoying it. I have felt life, as I knew it, slipping away from me at home but I’m slowly trying to implement new routines so I can keep on top of things. One of my greatest life savers has been my trusty slow cooker. I picked up a piece of stewing steak on special one day and tucked it away in the freezer, forgetting about it but when I stumbled across it, I thought of nothing better than throwing it in the slow cooker. To mix things up from a basic stew, I made this easy and very simple Beef & Potato Curry using pantry staples.

After dredging the meat in seasoned flour (I put it in a plastic bag to make less mess), I fried it in a little olive oil. Sometimes I do this step and sometimes I don’t. It doesn’t make too much difference to me but it does add a little caramelisation and flavour to the meat when you do.

If and when my slow cooker ‘dies’, I’m going to get one with a browning plate built in. This will make this process a whole lot easier.

Next, the really easy part. Combine one tablespoon of beef stock, curry powder (to taste), salt and pepper. Add a cup of water and stir until dissolved. I do love Indian food but I’m the only one in the house that does. I’m happy to sacrifice those lovely, spicy tastes for the whole family and I no longer buy all the spices to make my own curry powders. A simple, supermarket curry powder is fine in this recipe.

Put meat in the slow cooker.

Add a couple potatoes which have been chopped in large pieces. (We don’t want them to dissolve in the slow cooker but to keep their shape.)

Set and forget. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours. Serve with rice (which I just happened to already have pre-cooked in the freezer) and dinner is done. This is a tasty stew with a curry flavour and the meat just melts in your mouth. You could try it with any spices, for example Moroccan, Spanish or Mexican and add any other vegetables you like.  This beats any packet mix, hands down.

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Easy Slow Cooker Beef & Potato Curry

A simple meal for the slow cooker that you can set and forget. Using stewing steak and pantry staples, your mid week dinner will be ready to eat when you are with little cooking on your part.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 4 hours

Total Time 4 hours 10 minutes

Servings 4

Author Anne

Ingredients

• beef stewing steak
• 3 large potatoes chopped in large pieces
• plain flour seasoned with salt and pepper, for dredging meat
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbs beef stock powder
• 1 tbs curry powder
• salt and pepper
• 1 cup water
• rice to serve

Instructions

1. Add diced meat to plastic bag filled with seasoned plain flour and ensure each piece of meat is coated well in flour.
2. Fry in a little olive oil until golden.
3. Put fried meat in slow cooker.
4. Combine stock and curry powder, salt and pepper with 1 cup of water.
5. Add diced potatoes.
6. Cook on high for 4 hours or slow for 8 hours.
7. Serve with boiled/steamed rice.

Recipe Notes

Can add other vegetables as desired.
Instead of curry powder, use Moroccan, Spanish or Mexican seasonings.

 

One Pan Fish & Chips

Things have just got even busier around here lately, with me working, the kids back into their weekly dancing classes and throw in a summer head cold for good measure, I need easy, fast, preferably one pan meals to feed my family and fish and potatoes done in one pan couldn’t be easier. I’d been wanting to try this for ages so was forced to do it when I was stretched for time one evening.

Start by slicing washed potatoes (no need to peel them) really thin. I use a mandoline but if you’ve got good knife skills you should be able to get a consistent thin slice. The thinner the better for cooking time.

Toss them in a little olive oil, salt and pepper and place in layers in a frypan or skillet. I used an electric frypan but even a baking dish in the oven or the slow cooker would work well. The potatoes will crisp up underneath while you prepare the fish.

I always have fish in the freezer and for less than $9 for a kilo bag, they’re a good protein option to feed your family. Even with just 2 pieces of fish, you could do a quick stir fry or curry to feed 4. I’m lucky that my kids do like

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fish and will eat a whole fillet. Spray alfoil with a little oil spray and season the fish with salt and pepper. You could add lemon juice, a little butter or any seasonings you like.

Turn the potatoes over and you’ll see that they’re all golden and crunchy, just like takeaway fish and chips, not necessarily in a ‘chip’ shape.

Place the foil wrapped fish on top of the potatoes and in about 10 minutes, dinner will be ready. It really couldn’t be easier. I used my electric frypan for this dish and have been relying on it and my slow cooker more to organise the evening meal. We received an electric frypan for an engagement present and I realised I never owned one. Mum used it for just about every evening meal and I’m realising just how versatile it really is. 

Serve the fish fillet on top of the potatoes with a side salad and dinner is done. The whole process probably took about 30 minutes which was great when I was feeling exhausted and not really up to cooking. The price was definitely a lot cheaper (and probably healthier) and quicker than buying takeaway fish and chips. A good standby for a mid week meal.

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One Pan Fish & Chips

A quick alternative to takeaway fish and chips using one pan to fry the thinly sliced potatoes and steam the fish wrapped in alfoil.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 4

Author Anne

Ingredients

• 4 fish fillets
• potatoes washed and thinly sliced (enough for 4 people)
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• oil spray

Instructions

1. Toss sliced potatoes in a little olive oil and salt and pepper.
2. Place potatoes in layers in a frypan.
3. Prepare fish by wrapping in alfoil sprayed with a little oil and season with salt and pepper.
4. Cook potatoes on one side for approx 10 minutes until golden brown.
5. Place alfoil wrapped fish parcels on top of sliced potatoes and cook for a further 10 minutes.
6. Serve with a side salad.

Recipe Notes

Can use an electric frypan, skillet, bake in the oven or slow cooker.
Fish can be flavoured with lemon, garlic, herbs or other seasonings of your choice.

Lamb & Potato Frittata

There’s nothing like leftovers from last night’s roast dinner to help with your menu planning. In fact, in our grandmother’s days the Sunday roast was the base for most of the next week’s meals. Without refrigeration like we know, the meat had to be used up as quickly as possible.

Meat is pretty expensive here in Australia so when it comes on special, I tend to grab a roast and get a couple of meals out of it. I don’t like to pay any more than $10 per kilo for proteins. This Slow Cooked Greek Lamb was going to get every inch of it’s life used up and with eggs and potatoes in my pantry I came up with this Lamb & Potato Frittata.

Both of my children love to help in the kitchen but my son loves cracking eggs so he was on egg duty.

I peeled and thinly sliced the potatoes and par cooked them in the microwave for a couple minutes just to speed up the cooking process. Once cooked, mix with sliced onions, the leftover lamb and beaten egg mixture.

Pour into a casserole dish, top with grated cheese and bake until set and golden on top. It couldn’t be any easier. It’s great served cold too.

Served with a side salad, you’ve got a complete meal with leftovers, yet again (if you’re lucky) for lunch the next day. Any kind of roast meal (or cold cuts for that matter) would work well in this dish. A great standby for a quick mid week meal. I might add, this frittata isn’t cooked in the traditional way but it tastes just as good.

Lamb & Potato Frittata

• leftover roast lamb, roughly chopped in bite sized pieces
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 2-3 potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 brown onions, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup Greek yoghurt or cream
• salt & pepper
• grated cheese

1. Preheat oven to 170 deg C.
2. Par cook thinly sliced potatoes in boiling water or microwave until just tender.
3. Combine beaten eggs, yoghurt/cream, potatoes, onions and lamb with salt and pepper.
4. Pour into a greased casserole dish.
5. Top with grated cheese.
6. Bake until egg has set and cheese on top is golden brown. (Approximately 20 minutes.)
7. Serve with vegetables or a side salad.
8. Suitable to eat cold.

For more recipes to using up leftover roast meat, try these:

Leftover Roast Chicken Soup

Greek Lamb & Potato Free Form Pie

Greek Lamb Wraps

Individual Omelettes

Bangers & Smash

You’ve all heard of the famous British pub ‘grub’ Bangers & Mash, right? A plate of mashed potatoes with sausages served on top, smothered in gravy? Well, don’t even bother trying to make it here. You see, my 10 year old daughter doesn’t like mashed potato. Just one of the many things she won’t eat and hasn’t for the last nearly 9 years. As much as I’d love to just give her what she wants, I’m always thinking of ways to transform our regular meals into something she will eat. Normally she would’ve eaten the above sausages with a piece of bread wrapped around them and it would’ve been an ordeal watching her play with the carrots and broccoli for about an hour but I was totally surprised when she devoured these ‘smashed’ potatoes.

There was nothing to it really. Just peel and boil some potatoes in salted water then strain.

In the same pan, add butter and crushed garlic and ever so gently mash the potatoes until they are just starting to crumble.

Pop in a pan with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil over medium heat.

As it starts to brown underneath, gently turn over the potatoes, trying to keep most of their shape. The soft ‘mushy’ bits are just glorious smothered in butter and garlic. (Well, I thought so.)

Cook up your favourite sausages and serve with a side of your ‘token’ vegetables. This recipe is definitely a keeper.

If you would’ve told me I had a child who wouldn’t eat mashed potato before I had kids I would’ve laughed my head off then lo and behold I went and had one. Mashed potato is the least of my problems. At least I ‘caught her out’ on this one.

Bangers & Smash

• sausages, grilled or fried
• potatoes, peeled, steamed or boiled
• garlic, crushed
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt & pepper
• butter
• other vegetables
• gravy (optional)

1. Once the potatoes have been boiled, strain and add butter and garlic to the same pan. (Depending on the number of potatoes you have cooked, I added about 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 cloves of crushed garlic to 4 potatoes.)
2. Gently toss potatoes in butter/garlic mixture.
3. Coat a pan with extra virgin olive oil and put pan on a medium heat.
4. Gently fry potatoes until they become golden brown on the bottom and turn over until golden brown all over.
5. Serve with cooked sausages and other vegetables of your choice. 
6. Gravy could be served as well.

Slow cooker Moussaka with potato

Since beginning my Diploma of Business studies, I’ve been relying on my slow cooker for just about every evening meal. I had picked up an eggplant with my groceries and the only thing that comes to mind for me is my favourite Greek dish, Moussaka. There are many parts of the world that cook this dish and, traditionally, the Greeks don’t use potato in theirs but I just love it with potato. I usually bake this in the oven to get that golden, crisp top but it didn’t turn out too bad in the slow cooker.

Start by slicing the eggplant into half to 1 cm slices.

Fry until golden in extra virgin olive oil. The eggplant does tend to soak up the oil so make sure it’s hot and drain well on paper towel.

For the potatoes, I like to par cook them in the microwave for a couple minutes. Slice them about the same size as the eggplant.

For the meat sauce, fry lamb mince (you can use beef) and onions, adding the spices and about 2 tablespoons of tomato paste. You’ll need to fry this off a little before mixing in.

Even though this part of the cooking process was done in a pan and not the slow cooker, it didn’t take too long.

Layer your sliced potatoes, eggplant and mince mixture, finishing off with a rich bechamel sauce and leave for 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low in the slow cooker.

My mouth is watering looking at this photo and wish I could have a piece again right now. Such a wonderful combination of flavours.

You could prep this dish up until http://www.shannonrovers.com/profile/Paulsen about an hour before dinner time, leaving it in the fridge but I opted for the slow cooker. There’s quite an accomplished feeling for me using it and it’s a less stressful time just before dinner.

Do you add potato to your moussaka?

Slow Cooker Moussaka with Potato

• 500gm lamb mince
• 3 two medium potatoes, sliced
• 1 medium eggplant, sliced
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 2 tbs tomato paste
• 1 cup beef stock
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• extra virgin olive oil for frying
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 3 bay leaves
• salt & pepper

Bechamel sauce:

• 3 tbs butter
• 2 tbs plain flour
• 2 cups milk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup grated cheese
• salt & pepper
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg

1. Fry eggplant in hot olive oil until golden and drain on paper towel.
2. Par cook potato slices in boiling salted water or in the microwave.
3. Brown mince and onion until browned then add garlic, cinnamon, oregano, salt and pepper.
4. Add tomato paste and cook in the pan then mix through mince mixture.
5. Add canned tomatoes and stock then add bay leaves and cook for approximately 15 minutes.
6. Season well with salt and pepper.
7. For the Bechamel sauce, melt butter in a sauce then add flour and cook well.
8. Add milk and stir until thickened.
9. Add beaten egg and cheese, salt and pepper and nutmeg.
10. To assemble moussaka in slow cooker (or baking dish for the oven), spread a little meat sauce on the bottom, then add a layer of eggplant, a layer of potato and a layer of meat sauce. Repeat until all have been used.
11. Top with the Bechamel sauce.
12. Cook on low for 8 hours or 4 hours on high in the slow cooker (or approximately 30 minutes in the oven until the top is golden brown).