[Sca-cooks] Shepherd's Pie

[Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Also sprach Jessica Tiffin:
>Here in Cape Town, I make cottage pie with ostrich mince, which is 
>leaner, slightly darker and more flavourful than beef.  I also tend 
>to make it rather like a bolognaise - onions, green pepper, grated 
>carrot, chopped tomato, tomato paste, red wine, garlic, mushrooms, 
>fairly moist.  It wouldn't occur to me to put mixed veges into it :>.

Clearly, though, this suggests that you don't see the dish as a 
secondary by-product of something else. (This is a common, if 
heretical, interpretation ;-)  ) Perhaps, if you did, the vegetables 
would make more sense. For some reason, though, the "mixed 
vegetables" term may have some bad associations for some people.. 
there used to be, and may still be, a somewhat sinister canned 
product called Veg-All. My choice of vegetables was more a dark 
mirepoix (a pretty standard French formula of aromatics used for 
stocks, sauces, and meat dishes) with optional added mushrooms, peas, 
and, possibly, turnip. But "mixed vegetables"? Naaaah.

>And the secret of the topping is to add garlic, cream cheese and 
>finely diced rosemary and chives to the mashed potato.    Which I 
>make with the skins on.  Because I like the flavour, and it makes me 
>feel slightly less unhealthy ;>.  My housemate, who is a heretical 
>German, likes cheese on top.  Weird.

Yeah, weird. But ostrich is not... I calculate some two extra grams 
of fiber per serving, plus the 870 extra grams of fat per serving 
from the cream cheese; I'd say that evens out, no? ;-)

>We have heatwaves in Cape Town.  How's everyone's winter... ? :>

We've been running just about fifteen degrees Fahrenheit below 
average, pretty consistently, for the last several weeks. They say 
global warming and other weather weirdness is caused by trees...

<sigh>

Adamantius