Three-Coloured Shepherd's Pie

I have been on a 'diet' since last November and so far I have managed to shed few kilos. Though keeping it on track seems difficult sometimes. But the good thing is that, with all these dieting routine, it somehow has managed to change my eating style or should I say our eating style into a healthy one. I'm more selective nowadays in terms of the food I put in each mouth in this house, and I'm glad to say that we eat more vegetables and fruits in the last few months compared to last time. And I even read labels!

Anyway, I pulled this recipe from a quaint 'Little Paris Kitchen' book by Rachel Khoo which packed with Parisian recipes made easy, simple approach yet truly yay(!) results. I picked this particular one because I love how beautiful the pie looks from the book. The top part is made out of three different toppings, mashed pumpkin, mashed potato and parsley flavoured-mashed potato-which means colours! I love colours in my food.

Since I love how Marco did with his version of Shepherd pie, so I decided to combine these two recipes into one. Here's my version of Three-coloured Shepherd's Pie. 

Three-coloured Shepherd's Pie 

Ingredients

The beef filling, recipe based on Marco Pierre White's. 

1tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

500g minced lamb- I used beef

10g plain flour

1tbsp Worcestershire sauce- I subs it with oyster sauce.

1tbsp tomato puree- I subs it with cherry tomatoes-blend

200ml beef stock

300ml water (use more or less)

1 bay leaf

1 large carrot, peeled, chopped and boiled until just tender

The topping, recipe based on Rachel Khoo's.

500g pumpkin, peeled and cut into chunks

olive oil

500g floury potatoes- I used Russets

1/2 bunch of parsley

8 tbsp milk

1 tbsp butter

white pepper

salt

Thing you'll need:

A pie dish

Food bags

Way to do it

Pre-heat the oven to 200 deg C.

Beef filling (Here's is a demo)

Fry off the garlic and onions in the oil until translucent and add the meat and season. Stir in the tomato puree, bay leaf and seasoning and add the beef/vegetable stock then simmer for 30 minutes. 

Topping

Toss the pumpkin chunks into baking tray and drizzling with olive oil. Roast for 20 mins or until tender. I use forks to mashed it and it created "not-so-smooth paste". The book clearly ask for a blender, guess I've skipped that part. Spoon into a piping bag, I used ziplock bag, and put aside.

Cook the potato in large pot for 15-20 mins. with blender, whizz the parsley including the stalk with 3 tablespoon of olive oil until smooth. Once the potatoes are cooked, drain and mash with milk, and butter (I add a knob of cream cheese). Season with salt and white pepper. Split into two equal portions. Mix one portion with the parsley paste and spoon each of them into ziplock.

Assembly

Pour the hot meat sauce into an oven proof dish and top with carrots cuts, or any other preferred vegetables i.e peas and let it chill a little bit. 

Pipe lines of the different topping on to it. 

Bake for 30 minutes or until bubbling and golden.

Serve hot.

Claypot Chicken Rice with Mushroom & Salted Fish

At a first glance, this dish may seems like a lot of work. It isn't. The whole prep works and cooking took about 45 mins or less. A perfect, simple weeknight dinner perhaps. I found some tenggiri salted fish at the wet market today. I bought two, which I later regret. The towkay uncle told me that they are rather rare during this unpredictable weather. 'Banyak tak jadi'. And I bought two. Sobs. I only nodded to him as if I really understand him. He later told me that the best place to keep this fish is in your freezer. Yes, in your freezer. Not in your fridge, not under your kitchen sink, or inside your onion's basket. Guilty as charged. To me, the dish won't be the same without the salted fish. I personally think that the star of the dish belongs to the salted fish, rather than to the chicken or mushroom itself. (Claypot salted fish rice with chicken and mushroom?) The subtle fragrant (oh the smell)of the salted fish, camouflage in between the rice grains, bind the wholly things inside the bowl. Make sure you get these seasonally rare gems beforehand.

Claypot Chicken Rice with Mushroom & Salted Fish
(Loosely adapted from Noobcook & mycookinghut)

Ingredients:
1/2 fresh chicken
2-3 garlics
1 cup of rice
1 cup of chicken stock
A few stalk of scallions
A small piece of salted fish, chopped
A small knob of ginger-julienne
A small piece of ginger torch flower bud -chopped (optional)
A handful of dried shitake mushroom-soak in warm water, reserve the soaking water
cooking oil, as needed

Marinade:
1 tsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp of sweet soy sauce
1/2 tsp honey/brown sugar

Directions:
1. Marinade chicken pieces for 1 hour or so.
2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok and sautéed the garlic and ginger. Add in the mushroom and let it fragrant.  Stir-fry marinated chicken meat for 1 minute. Put aside.
3. Add the washed rice together with the salted fish into the pot.
4. Cook the rice with 1 cup of chicken stock+ some water used to soak the mushroom.
5. Cover claypot with lid. Simmer the rice until it is almost cooked, about 10 minutes.
6. Spread the chicken mixture all over the rice.
7. Cover the claypot and simmer for another 15 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.

Spinach-Basil Pesto Penne

Pesto, as a rule, can be made from anything that consists of leafy greens, nuts, cheese, garlic, and olive oil. It is something I would  have on days when bolognese, carbonara even olio suddenly sound complicated or on days when I could not be bothered to cook at all. Of course, there are thousand of different ways to substitute the ingredients. It all depends on your creativity in the kitchen. The leafy green, nuts and cheese are the variables. However, if you are a first timer, sticking to a classic pesto ingredients is a must: basil, pine nuts, parmesan, salt, pepper, olive oil. 

All you need is a pestle and mortar.  Optionally, you may need a pan to toast the nuts. This is only if you want to preserve the oil from nuts, which gives you the creaminess rather than the nuttiness* taste. 

You can opt for a food processor, which by the way  does not make you a cheater. From what I have read, different techniques (chopping, bruising, crushing, etc) would produce different pesto-taste. Or if you are not in any particular rush, try chopping. It is said that it will single out each taste of every ingredient in the sauce. I'd love to try this method one of these days. Lastly, whichever method  you choose, please avoid using a blender. You do not want to end up with a smoothie. #ggs lol

Spinach-Basil Pesto Pasta

Adapted from Jamie Oliver's Pesto recipe*.

1 handful of basil

2 handfuls of spinach

1 handful of pine nuts-slightly toasted

1 garlic or more if you like it to be garlicky

Salt & Pepper

Lemon juice (optional)

1 handful of Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Extra virgin olive oil

*Start by slightly toast the nuts in the pans or oven.
Pound the garlic with a little pinch of salt and the basil leaves in a pestle and mortar.
Add the pine nuts to the mixture and pound again. Turn out into a bowl and add half the Parmesan. Stir gently and add olive oil – you need just enough to bind the sauce and get it to an oozy consistency.
Season to taste, then add most of the remaining cheese. Pour in some more oil and taste again. Keep adding a bit more cheese or oil until you are happy with the taste and consistency. You may like to add a squeeze of lemon juice at the end to give it a little twang, but it's not essential.