"HOW MANY POTATOES?!?!" Shepherd's Pie

I wasn't going to post this recipe but if anyone is using the original cookbook (Nosh for Students by Joy May), I'd highly recommend this correction...

Don't use 6 potatoes. Use 2, maybe 3 at a push. If you have 6 potatoes you will die of potato overload. Seriously.

I appreciate that I am a 7 stone 6 woman with a small appetite. But seriously, 6 potatoes for a 2 serving dish? My potatoes weren't tiny but they certainly weren't massive, and I ended up peeling and cubing 3, and then chucking away half a potatoes worth of cubes because they just wouldn't fit.

But enough ranting. Other than the potato ratio, this was a really nice recipe :) It's quite different from your standard Shepherd's pie, due to the cubed rather than mashed potatoes, but they were nice contrasting textures and the meat flavour after adding the gravy was fabulous. Overall, I love this cookbook; I think I might even do a review of it soon, once I've cooked a few more dishes from it... but it's held my hand through a few little things that I should have known, but didn't (like how long to boil an egg for) and how not to die when deciding how long I can keep eating leftovers for (basically, according to the book, after eating one batch of sausage pasta for 4 days, I am a medical anomaly, or maybe just your standard student).

Before you point it out, I'm quite aware that it looks hideous. My phone camera really isn't up to this (plus I was hungry and it was going cold). I'm looking into the camera situation, ok?

Quick Shepherd's Pie


Originally from "Nosh for Students" by Joy May


250g mince
1/4 pint water
1 tablespoon gravy granules
2/3 medium potatoes
2 teaspoons butter
Grated cheese, to top (~40-60g?)

1. Preheat oven to 200/180 fan/gas mark 6
2. Put the mince and potato in a pan, add the water, bring to the boil, then simmer for 10-15 minutes.
3. Peel and cube the potatoes (into about 1.5cm cubes), boil for 10 minutes in a separate pan, and drain. Add butter and mix.
4. Add the gravy granules and seasoning to the mince.
5. Pop the mince in the bottom of your tin/casserole dish (I've been using a round cake tin simply because it's the best sized thing i have), top with the potatoes, then sprinkle the cheese over.
6. Cook for 20-25 minutes until lightly browned (this is what the book says, I had to go to 25 minutes, turn the oven down to 180, and then left it for another 5 or so).