Leftover Roast Beef Shepherds Pie

I know a lot of people wouldn’t call this “sheperds pie”. Traditionally a shepherds pie is made with ground lamb. I have had people leave me messages that because I normally use ground beef I should call it a cottage pie. I watch a few cooking shows and about a week ago I heard an english chef put an end to the debate, at least for me. He was making shepherds pie and using ground beef, the host brought up the shepherds pie/cottage pie debate. The chef’s answer was perfect and a true end to the debate. He said, “what ever your mother called it is what it is, my mother called it shepherds pie”. Like the chef, my mother called it shepherds pie even when made with ground beef. I’ll stick with calling mine shepherds pie.

Shepherds pie is a recipe you can truly play with. How you make it basically stays the same but what you use can be changed easily to what you like. There is an exception and I have found that with leftover roast beef how you make it gets a little different. With ground meat how I make it doesn’t change just what I add to the meat does. If you like more peas add them, don’t like corn don’t use it. As long as you have the meat and vegetables with potatoes on top it’s shepherds pie.

This I made with leftover roast beef, we did the hot roast beef sandwiches and still had roast and gravy left. The last time we had shepherds pie was a few months ago so it seemed like a good idea to make a shepherds pie with it. Since it’s not a ground meat thing you need to do are a little different, and I like being different so it’s a good match. You can use leftover mashed potatoes but for this I prefer boiling some. Sizes of how the meat is cut up doesn’t have to be exact, just don’t leave it in big chunks.

FOR THE POTATOES

4 good sized potatoes, you want about 3 and 1/2 cups when there mashed.

1/3 cup of cream

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 cup grated old cheddar cheese

Mix the garlic, onion powder, salt and pepper into the cream. Boil the potatoes until tender, drain well. Add the cream to the potatoes and mash until smooth. Set aside to cool, when potatoes are cool mix in the cheese.

FOR THE ROAST BEEF

2 and 1/2 cups of roast beef cut in 1/4 inch cubes

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning

3 bay leaves

water

1 onion diced

1 carrot chopped

1 rib celery chopped

1/3 cup frozen corn

1/3 cup frozen peas

3/4 cup leftover gravy

Add the roast beef to a frying pan and add enough water to barely cover. Add salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a gentle boil. Keep adding water as needed so pan doesn’t boil dry. Boil for 20 minutes and then remove the bay leaves and add all the vegetables except the peas. Boil for 20 minutes and add water as needed so pan is never dry and you can always see about a 1/2 cup of water in the pan. After the 20 minutes add the gravy and peas, remove from heat and mix until the gravy is smooth and combined. When cool add to a casserole dish, top evenly with the potatoes. Bake in a preheated 350 oven for 50 minutes.

Shawn’s Second Batch Of Yorkshire Pudding

Our son made a second batch of Yorkshire pudding to have with the leftover roast beef. No swirling it in this time so you get a different looking Yorkshire. They turned out great and even look better than some I have made.

If you just pour it in the middle you end up with a nice pocket to fill with gravy, which is my normal choice when I make them. Since I am a goofball I have tried different pours, just for fun. You can end up with many different looking Yorkshire puddings depending on how you pour the batter in the muffin tin. If you want to have some fun the next time you make them try pouring each muffin cup differently. It will look really cool when you take it out of the oven. Cooking is meant to be fun, that’s why I play so much.

Shawn’s Yorkshire Pudding

Our son Shawn made roast beef and Yorkshire pudding for supper last night. It was the first time he had made Yorkshire pudding using my recipe. As I told him when he sent me the picture ” they look FAN-DAMN-TASTIC “. The recipe works and everyone using it has great results. Simple thing really 4 eggs rather than the same recipe I first had with the same dry ingredients, same liquid, but only 2 eggs. I had little lumps until my research I found no chickens in England when recipe was created. No chickens, then they had to be using duck eggs. Each duck egg is equal to 2 large chicken egg. Earliest mention of the recipe called for 2 eggs, so 2 duck eggs equals 4 chicken egg.

Shawn’ Yorkshire pudding clearly shows how perfect the recipe works. It also, I guess, it may help that Shawn is a very good cook. He followed the rules with making them because he can cook and got a fantastic result.

He did ask why they came out with swirls. Kind of made me laugh a bit, he swirled the batter into the muffin tins. Over the years I played with different designs because I noticed the same thing. Swirl you get swirls, criss cross you get 4 peaks, pour it directly in the middle you get a big divit in the middle. I stick to the divit because it gives me a place to fill with gravy. Anyway you want to pour it in the muffin tin works and you end up with great Yorkshire pudding.

Lunch, Mushrooms On Toast

This is a dish for mushroom lovers like me. I have been making it for years. The Paddlewheel restaurant had it on their lunch menu and it was where I first had it. It is extremely simple to make and makes a very good lunch. Any kind of mushrooms work, today I had gremini. I have in the past used a mixture of mushrooms, which was great.

The gremini mushrooms I had leftover from a stir fry I made. Luckily, or by my cheating the stir fry, I had 13 mushrooms. The amount of mushrooms is your choice, I like lots.

mushrooms sliced

1/2 onion diced

4 cloves garlic minced

1/2 cup water

1 or 2 chopped green onions

1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons half and half cream ( this amount varies based on the amount of mushrooms)

toast

Preheat a frying pan on medium high heat. Add mushrooms and water, cook until water has evaporated. Add butter, onions, garlic, salt and pepper. Cook for about 8 minutes mixing often until mushrooms start to brown and onions are cooked. Add cream and reduce by half, mix in green onions and serve on toast.

Chicken Soup

The picture is the cold leftover soup right out of the fridge.

This recipe comes from my liking fried chicken. There aren’t many chicken dishes I like, fried chicken I really like. When ever I make fried chicken it starts with buying a whole chicken. I butcher it myself so I end up with a chicken back. I freeze the back and when I have 4 of them I make chicken broth. Chicken backs are absolutely perfect for making broth.

There is a bit of a trick to using chicken backs for broth. Making chicken broth is probably the hardest broth to make. Any chicken doesn’t have very much flavour so you need to add as much as you can. My not liking chicken has helped me greatly in the chicken broth department. There is one thing I like about good chicken soup, luckily Winnipeg has a couple of great Jewish deli’s and they make great chicken soup. With most soups I make they have lots of vegetables and beans or grains added. Good chicken soup is the exception, good chicken soup needs lots of broth. That’s the thing, the broth has to be great broth.

BROTH

4 chicken backs

2 onions quartered

2 ribs celery chopped in 1 inch pieces

2 carrots chopped in 1 inch pieces

3 whole cloves garlic

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 italian seasoning

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

salt and pepper

water

Salt and pepper the backs well, place on a foil covered cookie pan. Place in a preheated 350 oven skin side up. Cook for 1/2 hour and then added everything else, except Worcestershire sauce, red pepper flakes, italian seasoning, onion powder, and cook for 1 hour. Put everything including spices in a stock pot and add enough water to about a 1/2 inch below the level of the chicken backs. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a gentle boil, cover and cook for 3 hours. Drain into a bowl, pick the meat when it’s cool enough to handle and retain in another bowl. Refrigerate the meat and broth over night.

SOUP

the broth you made with the solidified fat removed

1 litre store bought low sodium chicken broth

2 bay leaves

2 medium onions diced

2 medium carrots sliced in small slices

2 medium ribs celery chopped in small pieces

chicken meat 1 tablespoon butter

salt and pepper to taste

Place everything in a large pot and bring to a boil. reduce heat to a gentle boil, cover and cook for 1 and 1/2 hours. Taste the soup and add salt and pepper. Serve and if you absolutely need noodles, like my wife, cook them separately and add them to your bowl.

Fish Au Gratin

Fish with cheese years ago was a no no, it was wrong then as is still wrong. Yes, the type of cheese is very important to the final taste. If you’re adding it to a coating either parmesan or osiago is best. For this recipe swiss works the best.

This is something I had in a restaurant years ago, I think it was the Velvet Glove but not sure. I made it about a week after and made it a couple of times a year for a few years. It has been about 30 years since I last made it, which is a shame because it’s delicious.

I used cod because it was in the freezer but any thin fillets will work. I have used sole, tilapia, walleye, it works as long as it’s thin fillets. For the people who love fishing freshwater perch is the absolute best. It is a great company or impress a date dish.

This is for 4 fillets so if you’re making more increase the amounts.

I think everyone that cooks knows how to make a bechamel sauce. When the sauce is made add a cup of grated swiss cheese, half teaspoon garlic powder, and a teaspoon of parsley flakes if you have some.

4 cod fillets

salt and pepper to taste

1 yellow pepper cut into match sticks ( I used a yellow pepper because I had it but any colour will work)

1/2 an onion cut into sticks

olive oil toothpicks

Saute the onion and pepper with a small amount of oil. When about 70% cooked set aside to cool. Place some onion and pepper on the wide end of each fillet. Roll the fillets up and secure with a toothpick. Place in a casserole dish and pour the sauce equally over. Bake in a preheated 350 oven for 40 minutes and serve immediately.

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!!!

My wife and I wish all who visit my blog a very Happy New Year. May it be a time for family and friends to enjoy the celebration. Hopefully the new year is a blessing for you and your family.

Graham

Christmas Breakfast / Brunch 2023

I should of taken a picture of the casserole dish when it came out of the oven, it looked impressive.

Another year of the favourite thing I do for our family, breakfast/brunch. This year it’s a very simple thing since our daughter is having Christmas supper at her place. Normally there is a large turkey in the oven, this year the oven is mine to play with.

A few months ago I was having a conversation about what are the best sandwiches. Monte christo was one everyone agreed on. The more I thought about it I was convinced it would be perfect for Christmas. A monte christo is just a ham and cheese sandwich dipped in agg and deep fried, and it’s delicious. Deep frying seemed like to much when there is 16 people. I was about to scrap the idea until I remembered something.

A few years ago I had seen a monte christo casserole. I did a very little research, there are lots of recipes. So it was what I was making this year. No red and green in a ham sandwich but there is something that goes extremely well with it. Spinach, strawberry, and walnut salad with a poppy seed dressing. Breakfast/brunch was now a complete plan.

So how simple is it to make a monte christo casserole.

12 beaten eggs with 3/4 cup of half and half cream. (For 16 people)

Sandwich bread with crust removed (save the crust to make breadcrumbs)

16 thin slices of honey ham

butter

strong mustard

grated swiss cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Butter a casserole dish well, pour about 1/5 of the egg mixture in the dish. Butter the bread and spread a small amount of mustard one1 slice of the sandwich. Salt and pepper each slice of bread. Place the ham on the mustard side and swiss cheese on the ham. Place the sandwiches in the casserole dish in a single layer. Pour the remaining egg over the sandwiches and refrigerate overnight. In the morning preheat oven to 350. Bake for 40 minutes and serve with raspberry sauce or maple syrup.

A Pie For Christmas Supper

I brag about my wife’s baking all the time, it’s well deserved. My wife makes fantastic pies which our family loves.

When it comes to pies or other deserts there not high on my list of things to eat. Pies, really there are only 3 I really like. Lemon meringue, raisin, and my total favourite, CHERRY. Since it’s Christmas and our daughter is having Christmas Supper at her house my wife is making deserts. Deserts are lots of her cookies and pies. Eggnog pies and as a treat for me a cherry pie. Rest can eat the eggnog pies and I could skip the turkey, if my wife would let me, and just eat the cherry pie.

Since it came out of the oven it has been hard not to cut a piece. It’s going to be hard waiting till Christmas day to have some.

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!!

My wife and I wish everyone who visits my blog a very Merry Christmas. We hope everyone has the blessing of family around them for Christmas. A Christmas with family, filled with love and joy, is an absolute blessing which everyone should have.

Graham

PS. Christmas breakfast/brunch will be posted sometime Christmas afternoon.