Shepherd Jackets

Ingredients(For 2 People)

500g Fresh Lamb Mince
1 Large Onion
1 Clove of Garlic
3 Carrots
½ Swede
2 Large Jacket Potatoes
1 Tin of Chopped Tomatoes
100g grated cheddar
Worcestershire Sauce
Gravy Granules or Thickening Granules


Equipment you will need: Baking Tray, 1 Large Frying Pan, 1 Saucepan, Chopping Board, Sharp Knife, 2 soup bowls, and 1 mixing bowl.


Firstly

Take your jacket potatoes and prick them with a fork in 4 -5 different places. You could rub them with oil or covering them in tin foil to make them a bit crispier.
Turn your oven onto 180 Degrees and place your jackets into bake, they will take about 45 mins to an hour. Finely chop the onion and the garlic and leave in a bowl. Chop your carrots and your swede into chunks about the size of a 20p piece and leave in a bowl.


Secondly

Heat your frying to a high temperature and dry fry the lamb mince, there is no need for oil since lamb can be quite a fatty meat. Continue frying the mince until the meat has completely browned, now add the onions and the garlic. Stir the onions and meat together and continue frying until the onions have softened, now add the chop tomatoes, carrots and half the swede with a generous glug of Worcester sauce. Give this a good stir round and cover with cold water, when the pan has come to the boil then reduce the heat to simmering. Leave this simmering for around 20 mins to soften the vegetables. Thicken the mince if required with thickening granules or gravy mix. Add seasoning to taste.

Almost There

Put a saucepan of water onto boil and cook the remaining swede until soft, about 20 mins. Drain the water from the swede and leave in a mixing bowl with some butter.
When your jackets are cooked, remove them from the oven and allow to cool for 5 mins. Cut the jackets in half lengthways so when you place the jacket on the plate, white potato side up it sits quite well on the plate without rolling around all over the place. Scoop out the middle of the jacket and put with the swede. (Carefully without breaking the jacket skin)
Mash up the potato and the swede together with butter, salt, oodles of crushed black and a little milk.

Service

Now everything is ready, it’s time to put it together. Place the jacket skins onto a baking tray and spoon in the mince into the jacket so it fills the jacket by ¾’s. Now take your mash mix and fill and mound up your jackets with peaks of mash, top with grated cheddar and bake in the oven for 15 mins or so. Carefully remove from the oven and arrange on the plate and spoon on any remaining mince depending on how hungry you feel. The mince that doesn’t get used can be frozen and used at a later date or maybe the start of a lasagne for tomorrow.

Beef Stew & Herb Dumplings

INGREDIENTS (For Two People)

1 Large Onion
2 Cloves of Garlic
4 Medium Carrots
1/2 Small Swede
6 Button Mushrooms
250gm Stewing Beef/Steak
2 Bay Leaves
1 Tin Chopped Tomatoes
8 New Potatoes
4 Celery Sticks
1 Mug Of Peas(Frozen/Fresh)
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
1 Glass Of Red Wine(Optional)
2 Tablespoon of Flour
Salt & Pepper
2 Tablespoon Oil(Olive,vegetable,sunflower are all good to use its up to you)
Dumpling Mix: 100g self raising flour, 50g suet mix, pinch of salt 1 tablespoon mixed herbs and water.

Kitchen Equipment you will need: 1 Chopping Board, Sharp Knife, 2 Soup Bowls, 1 Large Saucepan, 1 Mixing Bowl and a ladle.


Firstly

Put your beef into the mixing bowl and add the flour and season well(don't be shy). Mix throughly so all of the meat is coated. Heat your saucepan, add 1 tablespoon of oil and brown your meat off in the pan. Once the meat has a dark brown colour to the edges of the meat, remove from the pan and leave in a bowl for a bit. Roughly chop all the veg: potatoe, swede, carrotts, onion, mushroom, celery and the garlic(you will want to chop the vegetables into the same size pieces as the beef). Add the other tablespoon of oil to the pan and genlty fry the veg mix to soften slightly. Add the beef back into the pan and add the wine if you have chosen to. If you have added the wine then cook this until the wine has reduced by half. Add the bay leaves, Worcestershire sauce and the chopped tomatoes, now add enough water to cover the beef and the vegetables and then add the same amount of water again. Cover the pan with a suitable lid or you could use some tin foil(carefully cover the pan with tin foil, it will be hot). Leave on your stove top for one and half hours on the lowest heat you have.

Secondly

Now your stew has been working its magic for an hour or so, its time to check on a few things. Firstly check to see if the beef has started to get tender a little bit, it should still be a little firm and about half an hour away. Secondly check to see how much liquid you have covering the meat, you just need it to just cover, no more. Add some water if needs be, if you think you have too much don't worry it will all get made into a gravy for mopping up later. Now you need to check the seasoning and adjust accordingly. Is the thickness of the gravy ok for you? or do you need to thicken it slightly?

Almost There

You need to make your dumplings. Take one mixing bowland measure out your ingredients, add to the bowl and work the mixture with your fingers. Add some water a little at a time until you have a pliable dough, once you have got this you can make your little dumplings by rolling them in your hand. Keep your hands well floured to prevent the dough from sticking to your hands.
Now you have your dumplings, place them into your stew and cover the pan cook for around 20mins. Your stew should be simmering but not boiling.

Service

It's time to eat! The dumplings have double in size and smells escaping from you pan should now be making your tastebuds tingle. So grab yourself a big bowl and ladle, serve yourself a large portion of homemade stew and dumplings, you deserve it!

Chicken & Mushroom Rissotto

INGREDIENTS (FOR TWO PEOPLE)

2 Small Chicken Breast
1 Medium Onion(red or white)
6 Medium Cup Mushroom
2 Cloves of Garlic
1 Chicken Stock Cube
25g Unsalted Butter
1 Teaspoon of Oil(Olive,Sunflower,Vegetable)
1 Teaspoon Smoked Paprika(Ordinary Paprika will work fine)
1 Tablespoon Oregano
3/4 Mug of Rissotto Rice

Equipment you will need: Chopping board, Sharp Knife, 1 Frying Pan, 1 Saucepan, 2 soup bowl

Firstly

Put 2 pints of water of water on to boil. When this has reached boiling point add the stock cube and stir until all of the cube has dissolved, remove from the heat. While you are waiting for the water to boil(don't watch it because folk law says it won't) you could cut the mushrooms into slices about the thickness of a ten pence piece, leave these in a bowl. Finely chop the onion as small as you can(mind those fingers you will need them for the rest of this dish), leave these on the side of the chopping board. Repeat this process with the garlic and add with the onion to your other soup bowl. Depending on how zippy you are with the knife the water should be done by now. You will need to chop the chicken into bite size pieces, they should be roughly the size of the mushroom you cut earlier. I personally prefer to slice the chicken with a knife, but I have seen people use scissors, I know some people don't like touching raw meat, it's down to you really how the chicken gets chopped.

Secondly

Heat your frying pan for 5 mins and then add the oil, you will know when the pan is hot enough because the oil will move quickly around the pan. Add the chicken and cook until the chicken has browned in colour. Remove the chicken from the pan and add the onions and the garlic, if necessary add half the butter to the pan to prevent the onion and garlic mix burning and sticking to the pan. Cook until onion has soften, now add the remaining butter and the rissotto rice, you may want to reduce the heat in the pan slightly. You need to keep stiring the rice, now add the mushrooms, paprika and the herbs.

Almost There

Continue to stir and slowly add about a mug full of the stock water carefully it may spit a little when you first add it to the frying pan. The idea of frying the rice gently in the pan with butter and the herbs is so the each rice kernal splits and allows the flavours to flow and infuse into the rice when you gradually add the water. You may want to turn the heat up slighty and add little amounts of water often. We are trying to get as much flavour into the rice as possible by letting the water reduce to nearly nothing and then adding more flavour. You do not want the rice swimming in the water and equally nor do want it too dry. Keep stiring and adding flavour. When I have made this recipe the rice cooking time is about 20 mins but depending on the heat you are cooking with the times may vary. When you think the rice is 5 mins from being done you can add the chicken. Don't forget to add liquid if necessary, at this stage it could be just water if you have run out of stock.

Service

Check to see if your chicken has cooked by cutting into it. If the chicken is done then taste the rice to see if that is cooked, it should have a bite to it and the sauce should just coat the rice. Continue to cook if needs be but be sure to get the liquid levels right, its very difficult to take liquid out at this stage but adding is a lot easier.Add salt and pepper to taste, serve and enjoy!