Twitter Updates

    follow me on Twitter

    Monday, February 20, 2017

    Cheap and Cheerful - Filling Ways With Hamburger Mince

    How to make 500 gms of Hamburger Mince into  4 Filling meals for 2 people
    I’ve been cooking up large this morning
    Dinner tonight and the rest for the freezer for the rest of the week
    Not counting the cost of the pasta
    Cost of this food about $15
    Not bad

    Cottage Pie
    This is basically the way my Mother cooked her Cottage Pie
    I’ve made a couple of changes, Ive found if you fry the mince separately to the vege, you get more colour on it and the flavour is excellent

    Both of these meat sauces make perfect pie filings
    Or if you're like our family
    Great on Hot buttered Toast
    Breakfast anyone?

    1 tablespoon oil
    1 onion peeled and finely chopped
    1 stick celery finely chopped
    1 carrot chopped into fine dice
    Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
    1 tablespoon olive oil
    250 gms mince
    1 beef stock cube dissolved in 2 cups of hot water Water

    Good dash each of Worcestershire Sauce and Tomato Ketchup

    2-3 tablespoons chopped parsley

    2 tbs Flour mixed with a little cold water

    4 large potatoes peeled and large chop
    a little milk
    Butter


    Heat oil in a frying pan
    Add onions 
    Season with S & P
    Saute till soft

    Add carrots and celery
    Season again
    Saute about  4 minutes

    Meanwhile in another skillet
    Add oil to a hot pan
    Add 250 gms mince
    Season and break up with a fork and cook till brown

    Add to the vege
    Place everything into a saucepan
    Dissolve a stock cube in 2 cups boiling water
    Rinse out both pan with this stock and add to saucepan
    Bring to simmer and cook about 30 minutes

    Thicken with 3 tablespoon flour mixed with water to a thin paste
    Add to pot, bring back to simmer stirring all the time till it thickens
    Add a good dash of Worcestershire sauce and 2 good dashes on Tomato ketchup
    Add the chopped parsley

    Place in oven proof dish
    You may raise your eyebrow at using a hand beater to mash potatoes
    Delia (for people outside of the UK …Delia Smith is a Kitchen Goddess there) said so!!! and she should know
    It works really well

    Cook potatoes in boiling salted water
    Drain, put pot back on heat to dry the potatoes out
    add 2-3 tablespoons milk
    Let that come to the boil
    Remove from heat
    Using a hand beater ,whip up the potatoes and milk
    Till well mashed
    Add 2-3 good knobs of butter
    Transfer beater to a wood spoon
    and beat by hand
    Taste and season with salt and pepper
    Spread over Meat mixture
    Dot with a little extra butter

    Cook 30 minutes at 180C
    Voila Dinner is served
    Plus one for the freezer
    Now for a change of taste treat
    A Meat Sauce with an Italian flavour
    A Basic Sauce to pour over pasta
    Starts off the same way but turns into something quite different

    1 tablespoon Olive Oil
    1 onion peeled and finely chopped
    1 red pepper chopped
    1 stick celery chopped
    1 large clove of garlic peeled and smashed 

    2 tablespoons dried Oregano
    Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
    1 tin chopped tomatoes (400 gms)

    1 teaspoon sugar

    1 tablespoon Olive oil
    250 gms Mince
    Slosh of wine about 100 mls


    Heat oil in a large deep frying pan
    Add onions season with S & P
    Saute till soft

    Add red pepper, garlic and celery
    Season again
    Saute about  4 minutes
    Add canned tomatoes, add water to the empty can
    about half full

    Tip that in too
    Add oregano and the sugar

    Meanwhile in another skillet
    Add oil to a hot pan
    Add 250 gms mince

    Season and break up and cook till brown
    Add wine to mince
    Let the alcohol vaporize off
    Should take about 3-4 minutes

    Add to the vege tomato mix
    Mix well
    Simmer for about 30 minutes
    It will become lovely and red, rich and thick
    Perfect over Pasta

    Transfer to a container
    In this case 2 containers, into the freezer
    2 meals there

    No comments: