Sherpherd's pie and Cauliflower gratin

Shepherd's pie with cauliflower gratin

I had a busy day of using the thermie today, even though my back is giving me issues, the thermie does everything so efficiently it was hardly an effort at all! I did make a few other things aside from the Shepherd's pie and cauliflower gratin, but they weren't officially for the "cook the book" project. I made a batch of the Thai chilli and chicken basil, which was for my Dad. I also made up a batch of sweet buns for my Mum. Then because they were coming over to collect them, I also made a "too easy chocolate cake" and ganache to ice it, for us to have with coffee.

The Shepherd's pie! I did make a little alteration to the recipe. One of the ingredients was stout beer. Neither of us drink stout, so I didn't really want to buy a bottle of it just for 50g! So I mixed a teaspoon of vegemite into some boiling water instead! It wasn't detectable in the end dish, so I guess it worked!

Shepherd's pie mix

I made the mashed potatoes the old fashioned way, only because I was trying to keep preparation time down, due to my sore back! I added a bit of cream and butter to the potatoes before mashing to get a nice smooth mash - after all I was mashing it manually! Oh the shock!

Shepherd's pie

The cauliflower gratin was really easy to make. I steamed some broccoli at the same time as the cauliflower and just separated it before putting it into the baking dish. I did forget about the broccoli and cooked it a bit too long. These things happen!

The cheese sauce was quite delicious. It would be nice to add in a bit of mustard to give it a bit of extra flavour too. I might try that next time. The cheese on top gave it a little bit extra as well. The kids loved it.

Cauliflower gratin

The combination of these two dishes was definitely a winner and I will be making both of these again.

Happy thermomixing!