recipe is : sheperd's pie

Ingredients

Potato crust
5 large potatoes
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp butter for dotting the pie crust
2 handfuls parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Pie filling
700 gms minced mutton and beef
3 large onions, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 celery stalks, finely diced
2 carrots, finely diced
2 cups mushrooms (button or swiss or portobello or a mixture of all three), broken up into small chunks
2 stalks rosemary
3 bay leaves
3 leeks, finely sliced across the length
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp olive oil


Method

preheat the oven to 180 C

boil the potatoes, peel the skin and mash. add the butter, cheese and salt and pepper and thoroughly combine. set aside

heat the olive oil in a big pan. add the onions and stir fry til translucent and softened, add the garlic, rosemary and bay leaves. stir fry for a few minutes til fragrant. add the leeks, celery and carrots and fry for about 3 minutes

add the minced meat to the pan and stir fry til just cooked. throw in the mushrooms and cook for a couple more minutes. add salt and pepper to taste

spoon the meat mix into a big casserole dish and top with the mash potatoes. even out the surface with a spoon and dot the top with little bits of butter here and there. bake in the oven for 40 minutes or until the top turns golden brown

notes:
a little bit of stock or liquid can be added to the meat mix if it is too dry. do not add too much water as the whole pie will become soggy.

don't add milk to the mash potatoes as the pie crust will not be firm enough to hold it's shape