A New Year & a Friend's Shepherd Pie

I began 2012 with a group of good friends.

We used to be colleagues. Now, I can gladly call them friends instead of the "c" word since I left the company last year. Mdm Fu Ting Ting (as Edmund would call to irk her I think) makes a great shepherd's pie which she lovingly *ahem* makes for us every Christmas. Since I am no longer with the company, I didn't get to have a slice of pie last Christmas. Also, she decided to channel all her energy to making blueberry cream cheese muffins for everyone. The muffins were a big hit too.. But we will focus on the pie for now.

  

To get a taste of her pie, I decided to have her share her recipe with me and feature her on my blog, and have a nice get together at the same time. So, we trudged to Mdm Fu's pretty (x 10) house on the morning of 1 January 2012.

Though the recipe is rather easy, it was quite a lot of work.  I am thankful that the 2 men were around to mash the potatoes (always need men to do menial labour.. hahaha).  It was fun cooking (and eating) together! Hopefully we get to do this again next year (But we'll probably not plan it on new year's day.  The men were rather zombiefied after partying too hard the night before)

Shepherd's Pie (contributed by Ting Ting)
serves 8-10

Filling:
400g of minced beef
a pack chicken/pork/beef sausages, sliced
a punnet of mushrooms (we used swiss brown)
5 yellow onions, thinly sliced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tomatoes, seeds removed, diced
2 tsp light soy sauce
3 tsp corn starch
2-3 tbsp red wine
salt
pepper
2 tbsp olive oil

Mashed Potatoes:
10 russet potatoes
1 cup of milk
2 tbsp of butter
salt 
pepper

Topping:
3 cups of shredded cheddar (we used a mix of red and white cheddar)
1/4 cup of grated parmesan

Directions
- Marinate the beef with light soy sauce, salt, pepper and cornstarch.  Heat oil in a pan. Add garlic and fry till fragrant.  Add the onions and fry till tender.  Add the mushrooms and fry till brown.  Add sausages, beef and red wine. Cook till beef changes colour.  Lastly add in the tomatoes and remove pan from stove.  (There's no need to fry the tomatoes as they will cook while placed in the oven later)
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 220*C.  Boil potatoes in a pot of salted water for 15-20minutes until tender.  Drain the potatoes and peel them.  Mash the potatoes up with the butter, and mix the milk in slowly till the potatoes reach a smooth consistency (It may require more than 1 cup of milk).  Add salt & pepper to taste.
- In an ovenproof dish, smear a thin layer of mashed potato till it fully covers the bottom of the dish.  Sprinkle a little cheddar cheese and parmesan cheese above the potato.  Next, layer the cooked meats above the potato, sprinkle a little more cheese above the meat.  Layer the remaining mashed potato above the meat and top the potato with the rest of the cheese.  Place in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes till the mash potato turns golden brown.  Serve hot.