Beef Casserole & Mash

Today, it was absolutely freezing so I thought "bring on the comfort food." I remembered I had some diced beef in the freezer and some leftover veg. This is a hearty meal, perfect for cold evenings when you can't be bothered to stand over the hob and "stir continuously until thickened." You chuck the ingredients into a casserole dish, bung in the oven and lay back and watch telly for an hour. At least that's what I did.



For 6 servings -

This is what you'll need:

3 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
2 medium sized onions, sliced thinly/diced/grated - whichever you prefer
700g diced beef or lamb (if using lamb - add some mint, it's gorgeous)
Veggies of your choice, as much as you like - I used leftover green beans, carrots and cherry tomatoes (John's mum harvested a lot this year) but frozen veg will do fine as well
4 heaped tablespoons of onion gravy granules
1 beef/lamb stock cube
500ml hot water
10 medium sized potatoes - Maris Piper are my tatty of choice for mash
1tbsp butter
Dash of milk

This is what you do:

1. Preheat oven to 150 degrees celsius. Peel and quarter potatoes. Put in salted water and set aside. Leaving your potatoes in water ensures they don't go brown.
2. Chop vegetables up into chunky, bite size pieces.
3. Mix stock cube and gravy granules with hot water until smooth. If the mixture is too thick, add a little water.
4. Put beef, vegetables, onion and garlic into a large casserole dish and pour gravy mixture over - mix thoroughly and make sure the sauce covers the meat.
5. Put the dish in the oven until meat is tender - this will take about an hour.
6. Half an hour after the casserole has been in the oven, put your potatoes on a medium heat until soft - this should take about 25 minutes.
7. Once potatoes are cooked through, drain and set aside. Turn off the oven and allow casserole to sit.
8. Pour a small amount of milk and the butter into the pan you boiled your potatoes in and heat gently. By using hot milk and melted butter instead of cold milk/cold butter, your mashed potatoes will be much fluffier!
9. Once milk has heated, add potatoes and mash until smooth (unless you like lumps of course)
10. Serve and enjoy!