The Butcher, The Veg Shop and Home Made Cottage Pie

 We went to the Butcher this morning to get a few extra things in for the next few days on the meat front.  We ended up coming away with 2 Barnsley chops, 1 very large chicken, a loin of pork joint for Sunday Dinner, 2 Gammon steaks, sausage meat, and a curry sauce.  I still have some other bits to use up so we should near enough have meals for the week.  We can always go off to the Butcher again if we run out.

After coming back from the Butcher, I then went to the Veg shop as I was low on fresh veggies. They had bags full  of  Kale which looks lush.  I bought a bag for £1 and then went back and got a couple of more bags as it is ideal for drying to use in pasta, stews, soups and to grind up into a green powder.  I am very chuffed with this.  Our family has eaten Kale for years.  At one point it was considered "poor people's" food and only fit to feed to the animals and if you ate it, you were poor indeed.  I actually think we had the last laugh though as it is a tasty and nutritious vegetable that is pretty versatile.

I also ended up getting a very large beautiful cauliflower for £1.25,which I think will be lush cooked as a cauliflower cheese and a large Savoy Cabbage also for £1.25.  I tend to steam cabbage, shredded very finely and then once cooked I make sure that it is all finely shredded sometimes you miss a chunk and then run a knob of butter through it.  Cabbage is a big favourite here.

In the reduced section I came away with three bowls of tomatoes at £1 a bowl each bowl has 1kg tomatoes in each bowl.

I also bought a bowl of big naval oranges also for £1, and a Melon also for £1.

I still need to get some peas/petit-pois, carrots, pears, broccoli and onions and maybe some Cavalo-Nero.

Whilst there I had also noted some other bargains, namely cherry tomatoes for 50p per container and some dried dates at 99p per pack.  

After coming home, I realised that because the Kale was so lush it would be ideal to pop into the dehydrator for soups, stews, Lasagna, gravies etc. either in leaf form or by powder form so I nipped back and got another couple of bags.  

I also came back with 6 cartons of the cherry tomatoes.  They can go in with the other tomatoes I got earlier to cook and I will then hopefully make pasta sauce to be water bathed for the Pantry shelf and also have dried tomato skins to turn into tomato powder.

I am hoping to go back tomorrow and pick up some Cooking apples, some dates, and maybe some more veggies for a chutney or two and maybe some more plums.  We will see how things go.

I currently have everything in the fridge keeping nice and cool and I am hoping to start processing them tomorrow.  So as usual there is a lot to do and it is just the depth that is varying.

After coming back from the shop, I then set to and started cooking this evening's tea, Cottage Pie, with some beef steak mince.  I had 1lb of this.  I then added a whole diced onion, and carrot, to the frying pan with a little oil and butter - not much, and cooked until the mince was cooked through.  I then drained the mince.  

I then added a little water and started to add my flavourings, I normally use vegetable Bouillon, and Bisto Beef powder, a little Redcurrant jelly, mixed herbs, Lea and Perrins, white pepper, and I also finely shredded some of the Kale into the mixture to pep it up visually but also to give that bit more flavour,  

There is a little gravy in the mince but I do not like it flooded as it only seeps out of the top if there is too much liquid.  

Once cooked I decanted it into a square pyrex dish and let it cool.  

I then set too and cooked the potatoes before adding the tiniest amount of milk and butter and mashing them. The potatoes need to be "soft" in texture after the mashing, but relatively stiff so be careful how much milk is added.  I then thatched the pie, and then added grated Davidstow Vintage Cheddar cheese to the top before popping it into the oven at Gas mark 5 for 45 minutes or until the top is nicely browned.

It was tasty and it went down very well.  OH went back for seconds.  There is now one portion left so he can ping that and have it during the day tomorrow.

It has therefore been a very busy day, not in the way that I had envisaged but productive in a different direction.  It will be back to the grind tomorrow, but at least the fresh food has been sorted out for the next few days which is always a plus.  Apart from a few more veggies and some fruit we are nearly there for meals over the coming week.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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