Restaurant - Style Shepherd’s Pie with Wild Mushroom

Cooking Adventure number #5 – Restaurant - Style Shepherd’s Pie with Wild Mushroom

For my fifth main ingredient, my cousin selected ‘lamb’. I researched and selected three recipes including lamb chops with Ratatouille, Lamb Scotch Broth and Shepherd’s Pie with Wild Mushrooms. All recipes look very tasty and can be cooked in less than two hours however; I chose Shepherd’s Pie with Wild Mushroom because this recipe is one of my favourite winter warmers. My sister was scheduled to leave for her around the world trip; therefore this recipe was a tribute to her. The ingredients for the ‘Shepherd’s Pie with Wild Mushroom’ are:

Olive Oil

Onion

Carrot

Celery Stalks

Wild Mushrooms

Minced Lamb

Plain Flour

Beef Stock

Canned Tomatoes

Tomato Paste

Thyme

Bay Leaves

Salt

Pepper

Red Wine

Washed Potatoes

Unsalted Butter

Egg Yolk

Parmesan

Breadcrumbs

It took me in total 25 minutes to prepare all the ingredients. This included measuring, cutting and washing all ingredients into bowls for the presentation photo. It was a surprise how quickly it took me to prepare when there were a fair amount of ingredients in this recipe.

This is me frying the onion, carrot, celery and mushroom with olive oil. I decide to used a saucepan because it was going to be the ‘everything’ pot so I don’t have to transfer from a frying pan to another pot. The order of the frying was: 1. Onion, 2. Carrot, 3. Celery and 4. Mushroom. The onions were browning first which meant the frying was almost completely. While I was sautéing, my sister put pepper in for more flavour and it smelt fabulous.

Once the vegetables had finished frying, it was time for the lamb to be fried. At first, the lamb looked like a human brain. Once it was in the saucepan, I smashed into bits which looked like tiny broken brains. It wasn’t the most pleasant sight. The lamb was quickly browning and within 5 minutes, it had finished. After completely the lamb, I added flour in to make the lamb and its sauce thicker. My sister added breadcrumbs in the lamb mixture so it soaked all of the remaining fat which was not part of the recipe.

Once the lamb had finished frying, I added in the vegetables and sautéed the lamb and vegetable for a little bit before the beef stock was put in. The aroma of beef and vegetable was just gorgeous but I couldn’t wait for the beef stock to come around.

The magic potion is here! Well actually it’s just beef stock but it made the vegetables and lamb smelt so amazing. This photo was taken by my cousin. After 20 shots of me pouring the stock in, this was the best one which was the 15^th shot.

Once the beef stock was ready and the vegetable and lamb had been sautéed and been soaked in the stock. I reduced to low heat and waited for approximately 15 minutes for the lamb and vegetable to soak the stock in.

Since the beef stock/vegetables/lamb was simmering for 15 minutes, I started on the mash potatoes. The recipe told me to use a certain type of potato to use for mash but since my sister couldn’t find the type of potato the recipe wanted, she just bought washed potatoes. At the beginning of the cooking session, I boiled the potatoes so they can soften for the mash. Luckily when the beef stock was simmering, the potatoes were finished boiling so I could start mashing immediately. The mash was very easy because the softness of the potatoes. The mash was tasteless but once my sister put in milk, butter and breadcrumbs; it was splendid!

After 15 minutes, the stock had been soaked up by the vegetables and lamb; it was placed in 6 ramekins my sister used one for each shepherd’s pie. Once they were filled to a certain point, my sister piped the mash potato on top of the meat filling. My sister loved piping things as decoration and since it was the last time she will be cooking with me, I let her pipe. My cousin’s photography skills really showed in this photo.  My cousin’s sister was putting pastry on 3 ramekins and my sister put potato on 3 ramekins. Once everyone had finished what they were doing, I put all 6 ramekins in the oven for 30 minutes.

The finished product looked like a professional dish because of the puff brown pastry and the rustic potato on the pie. Although when my sister was taking the pies out from the oven, the potato pies hit the top of the oven and made it sink a little bit. Luckily, there was one good potato pie which didn’t hit the top. It was my idea to put the knife and fork in to look more professional. I was dying to eat my shepherd’s pie but dinner hadn’t started yet so I had to wait.

This photo is my sister’s special shepherd pie which had her initials because this recipe was the last time was cooking with me. She was leaving to her “Around The World” trip with her fiancée for seven months.  My whole family thought this was the best recipe so far because it tasted so exquisite; they could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. One cousin is a fussy eater; however she managed to finish the whole ramekin which was an extremely good compliment. I thought it tasted pretty good better than previous shepherd’s pie which tasted really bad. The pastry was soft and warm and the meat filling was perfect. I will call this my best recipe so far and I can’t wait for my sixth recipe!!!

This recipe was taken from GW Living Magazine (Good Weekend)

Q: When was the last time you had a tasty shepherd’s pie (pastry or potato)?

Please comment your answers below

Melting Soft-Centred Chocolate Pudding

Cooking Adventure number #4 – Melting Soft-Centred Chocolate Pudding

For my fourth main ingredient, my friend selected ‘milk chocolate’. I researched and selected four recipes including chocolate and hazelnut roulade, chocolate mousse cake, chocolate mousse and soft-centred chocolate pudding. All the recipes look mouth-watering and they were not time-consuming. I chose soft-centred chocolate pudding because it is similar to the one that appeared in Masterchef recently. The ingredients for the ‘melting soft-centred chocolate pudding’ are:

Milk Chocolate

Plain Flour

Caster Sugar

Butter

Eggs

Raspberries

Vanilla Ice-cream

It took me in total 20 minutes to prepare all the ingredients. This included measuring, cutting and washing all ingredients into bowls for the presentation photo. I was pleasantly amazed how quick it took me to prepare all the ingredients. My duration for preparation has improved dramatically since the first time I started.

This is a picture of me melting the milk chocolate and the butter. It took for the butter and chocolate to mix because I used cold water instead of boiling water. The smell of melting chocolate and butter was divine.

Once the chocolate and butter melted, I left it aside to cool down. This picture is me mixing the eggs, flour and sugar into a bowl. It was powdery at first but when I put some elbow grease into my mixing; it became a smooth thick mixture that I was aiming for.

This picture is me with the melted and cooled down chocolate. It smelt amazing and the taste of rich chocolate with a pinch of butter in it. It had a smooth consistence and it was perfect.

This picture is me mixing the melted chocolate into the egg mixture. The reason why the melted chocolate had to be cooled down because if I poured the ‘ready off the stove’ chocolate, it would cook the egg which I did not want. The melted chocolate was blending in the mixture nicely. It was flawless and the smell was amazing.

After mixing the mixture, I placed it into ramekins. It was time consuming & difficult as the mixture was very sticky! After 15 minutes, the first ramekin was filled to the top and it was frustrating putting the mixture into 6 other ramekins (3 large and 3 small).

I love raspberries but I would love them more if they weren’t frozen from a packet. The raspberries were so sour and I could taste frost on them which was not tasty. This photo was my favourite one from his collection of raspberries photos.

This is one of the puddings that were chosen for presentation. My cousin’s photography skills showed every crack and every detail of the pudding. These puddings took 25 minutes but my sister and I decided to cook them for 30 minutes.  It was a little bit burnt but still scrumptious!

I decided to not to do a presentation photo because this stunned me. This photo is me putting raspberries and icing sugar on the two puddings; one in a ramekin and one outside the ramekin. I was really nervous whether if the centre of the pudding was going to pour out when I cut the pudding in half. 

Thankfully it was gooey in the centre and it was nice and warm, perfect for the winter night. I only made four puddings. My parents enjoyed eating the ice-cream more than the pudding because they don’t like eating desserts. I really liked the gooey centre and the raspberries because it was a combination between the sour raspberries and the sweet chocolate-centre. My sister didn’t enjoy it because she felt as though she was eating unfinished cake. She loved the raspberries with the pudding because of its sweet and sour combination. It was quick dish but it was appetizing in the end.

This recipe was taken from Bill Granger’s “Bills Open Kitchen’

Q: Do you like chocolate pudding and if no, why?

Please place your answers in the comment section below