Mutton shepherd’s pie
Prep time, 1 hour
Cook time, 3 hours
Serves 10
Stuff you’ll need…
2 tbsp. olive oil
3kg shoulder of mutton
Freshly ground black pepper
900g onions, peeled and finely chopped
4 sprigs fresh thyme, picked and chopped
4 cloves garlic
50g butter
60g tomato purée
60g flour
500ml red wine
75ml Worcestershire sauce
2 litres chicken stock
Freshly ground white pepper and salt
750g mash potato with butter and milk
75g mature cheddar cheese
1. In a large frying pan, heat the oil until hot, add
the mutton, season with pepper and fry until well
browned. Remove the meat from the pan and
place in a roasting tray.
2. Add the onion to the pan with the thyme and
garlic and a knob of butter, and cook until soft and
translucent. Add the meat and tomato purée, and
then sprinkle over the flour. Cook stirring constantly
for 2-3 minutes to cook the flour.
3. Add the red wine and Worcestershire sauce. Add
the chicken stock, bring back to the simmer and
add all of this into the roasting pan with the mutton.
4. Braise this for at least 2 hours at 150°C, maybe
longer, ‘til the meat is flaking from the bone. At this
point, remove from the liquid to cool enough to
handle. Should the stock require further thickening,
reduce on the heat as required.
5. Flake the meat and add back into the gravy while
reserving any of this you can to serve, then cool until
ready to assemble. Reserve the bone and trimmings
for stock.
6. Cover with creamy and buttery mash potato,
sprinkle with grated mature cheddar cheese.
7. Bake at 190°C for 25-35 minutes ‘til golden brown,
serve immediately
Pear crumble with
Thyme Custard
Serves 4-6
Crumble topping
150g plain or whole-wheat
flour
25g Porridge Oats
50g hazelnuts, crushed
75g butter at room
temperature
75g - 110g soft brown sugar
Filling
900g ripe comice pears
25g soft brown sugar
For the custard
6 free-range egg yolks
75g/3oz caster sugar
200ml/7fl oz double cream
200ml/7fl oz full-fat milk
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1. Pre heat the oven to 180°C/Gas 4
2. Peel and quarter the pears. Remove the core and pips
and place them into a casserole dish (1.75 litres) and
sprinkle over the sugar then prepare the crumble topping.
3. Put the flour, oats and nuts into a large mixing bowl and
add the butter. Rub the flour and butter together until it
looks crumbly and the butter has been evenly dispersed
through the flour. Add the sugar and mix together to
ensure that everything is combined.
4. Sprinkle the crumble topping evenly over the top of the
pears using a fork to even out the distribution but don’t
press it down.
5. Cook in the oven for 30 - 40 minutes until lightly golden
brown
6. For the custard, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together
in a bowl until pale and fluffy.
7. Heat the milk, cream and thyme together in a heavybased, non-stick pan until the mixture reaches scalding
point. Slowly pour the hot milk mixture into the egg yolk
and sugar mixture, whisking continuously, until smooth and
well combined.
8. Pour the mixture back into the pan and gently heat,
stirring continuously, until the mixture thickens enough
to coat the back of a wooden spoon. Pass the custard
mixture through a fine sieve and discard the thyme.
9. To serve, spoon the crumble out into shallow bowls and
spoon over the hot thyme custard.
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