Mince And Tatties

Mmmmm shepards pie, I love it, one of my favourites and very easy to make. I just brown some onions, toss in the meat (ground beef) and brown it all together, I add a little water and let it simmer a while. I add some gravy, from a packet I'm afraid, the lazy way, let all that simmer again for a while. I then add some carrots, peas, worchester sauce, a bit of ketchup and simmer again. While it is cooking I boil some potatoes, mash them with a wee bit of butter, or a lot, whatever floats your boat. I put the meat mixture in an oven proof dish then top with the mashed potatoes, put in the oven to cook more and Bobs your uncle, yummy dinner. In Scotland we call it mince and tatties.

By Christine Neary

My Lil Dumplin

It was one of those days...rainy and cold...time to throw everything into a crock pot and keep adding throughout the day (carrots and cauliflower finally got to see light). Everything was going well until my "Romantic Comedy" moment! I brought out two containers...cornstarch and baking powder. I wanted to thicken my sauce with cornstarch so I put some gravy in a little bowl, measured in some powder and POOF!!! A science experiment before my eyes. I thought "Okay maybe all that foaming just means it's really fresh". I poured it into the pot and turned to see I had used baking powder...ahhhhhhh! I felt embarrassed...all my hard work ruined. I still added some cornstarch and began the hunt for a dumpling recipe. I figured however funky the sauce was going to be at least there would be a dumpling to enjoy. I improvised on this recipe but it turned out to be so fluffy and delicious.

Dumplings:
1 Cup of flour (I used self rising flour)
1 Teaspoon of baking powder
1 Tablespoon of butter (cold)
Salt to taste
Cold water

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Cut in butter with a knife or pastry cutter, add cold water a tablespoon at a time until it forms a lumpy dough. Spoon a dumpling size of dough on top of your casserole or stew. When it's no longer gooey it's done.