Homegrown Happiness

 

 

This afternoon, while half the neighborhood's kids were playing in our back yard, I gathered some ingredients from the garden for dinner. I really love that everything in the photo below came from our patch.

 

Spinach, chives, rosemary, celery, onion, potato & egg...all ours baby! Tonight on the menu we had my thrown together version of a shepherds pie. Thought I'd share it because it went down a treat with my boys...and the neighbors kids who invited themselves to dinner when they smelt it cooking.

The beauty of this kind of recipe is that you can throw in whatever's growing in your vege patch and measurements are flexible.

 

Em's Patch Pie

 

3 small sticks of celery

1 small onion

1 large handful of spinach (we've got Perpetual Spinach at the moment)

1 handful of herbs (I used chives & rosemary)

3 large potatoes (ours are Dutch Creams)

2 medium mushrooms

500g of lean minced lamb

1 Tablespoon Plain Flour

Salt & Pepper

Worcestershire sauce

Chicken Stock

Small knob of butter

Extra virgin olive oil

2 large sheets of puff pastry

1 beaten egg

1. Pre heat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius

2. Place frozen sheets of readymade puff pastry on a large cookie sheet lined with baking paper and let thaw.

3. Finely chop the herbs and veges.

4. Put diced potato in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for a couple of minutes. (Partially cooking the potato speeds up the process).

5. Place butter, a good lug of olive oil, onion, celery and rosemary in a heavy based pan and gently sweat them over a low heat until softened.

6. Add the mince and turn up the heat to med/high. Once the mince has browned, sprinkle over the flour, season with salt & pepper and stir through.

7. Add a generous splash of Worcestershire sauce & chicken stock. Throw in the mushroom, spinach, chives & potato and cook for two minutes.

 

8. Lower the heat, place on the lid and let it simmer for 15 minutes. Once it has cooked, take it off the heat and let it cool down a bit.

9. Spread a layer of the lamb mixture over both sheets of pastry, without going to the very edges.

10. Using the greaseproof paper that the pastry comes lined with, gently roll into logs. Brush rolls with the beaten egg and pop into the hot oven for 15-20 mins til golden.

 

 

 

 

Healthy, hearty, home grown, home cooking.

 

 

 

That's Happiness!

xxx Em

 

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