Shepherd’s Pie AKA ‘Kaye's Leftovers Re-imagined’

food

Includes Short Video Version by Kaye!
What do you do when you realise the cooked sliced beef you took out of the freezer for sandwiches is still lurking in the fridge cos you forgot to use it?

Give it a new lease of life as a surprisingly tasty ‘Sweet potato topped Shepherd’s Pie’.

This is a completely 'made-up' recipe (aren't they all!) using some yummy leftovers plus a few new ingredients that created a dish that we both loved for not just one evening meal but a quick snack then next day!

Ingredients:

Beef strips Cooked beef sliced into strips – then chopped into rough squares

1 onion – diced

3 cloves of garlic – peeled and diced

4 short cut bacon slices – fat removed

2 carrots – diced

1 cup frozen peas – defrosted

Tomato paste

Worcestershire sauce

Beef stock powder

Cornflour

1 large par-cooked sweet potato

Method

Saute onion and garlic on gentle heat until caramelised, add diced bacon and carrots

Add ½ tub tomato paste and approx. 1.5 cups of warm/hot water

Add Worcestershire sauce to taste – approx. 1 – 2 Tbsp

Add 1 tsp beef stock powder

Add meat – approx. 300g – or more if catering for more. We ended up with more leftovers!

Simmer gently while you nuke the unpeeled but quartered sweet potato and when cool enough, smash into chunky pieces, chucking out any dark bits (usually from the tips)

Add peas and 1 tsp of brown sugar (optional)

In a glass, put 2-3 tbsp cold water and mix in about 2 tsps cornflour

Pour into bubbling stew and stir with a wooden spoon until thickened.

Lightly spray a lasagne dish or casserole dish and add the meat and vegetable mixture

Top with the smashed sweet potato so that it roughly covers the surface but no need to smooth it out.

Dot some knobs of butter across the sweet potato and place under grill to melt the butter and get cute little bits of darkened sweet potato at the highest points.

Steamed Brussel Sprouts

Meantime have your 'special other' chop off the yellowed ends of his favourite vegetable – Brussel Sprouts – and steam them over boiling water until tender.