Recipe : Week 4 : Day 1

Australian shepherd’s bake

Serves 4 : very easy
Ingredients
450gm lean lamb, minced
1 onion, finely chopped
crushed garlic to taste
1 carrot, diced
1 celery stick, diced
2 Tblsp tomato paste
1 ±400gm tin chopped tomato
1 cup frozen peas
1 Tblsp maizena
4 large potatoes
80gm fat reduced cheddar

Method
Scrub the potatoes, and cut into thick slices.
Boil the potatoes in lightly salted water for about 20 minutes, until just tender.
Meanwhile, spray a large pan with cooking spray.
Tip the onion, garlic, carrot and celery into the pan.
Dry-fry over a medium heat until the onion is tender.
(If you add a splash of water and cover the pan, it helps to stop the onion burning.)
Increase the heat slightly, and add the lamb.
Keep stirring so that the lamb browns all over.
Add in the tomato paste, the tinned tomatoes and the frozen peas.
Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 15 mins.
Mix the maizena to a paste with a little water.
Pour the maizena into the lamb, stirring all the time, until the sauce thickens.
Line a casserole dish with the cooked potato slices.
Gently pour in the lamb.
Top with grated cheese.
Grill at 220°c for 10 mins until nicely browned.
Serve with a simple salad.
This makes a nice change from the usual beef mince. You can add mixed herbs and a lamb
or beef stock cube with the tomatoes for a richer flavour.
Leaving the skin on the potatoes (and carrot, for that matter) adds fibre.
Lamb is very expensive in South Africa – use ½ the quantity of lamb, and stretch it with ½ a can, or more, of cannellini beans.