[Basics]Shepherd's Pie: Now with Meat

The title may startle you.
Okay, it won't.
Your average Shepherd's Pie has some sort of meat in it. Mine is usually ground beef. I also like to mix in some pork for extra yum. I've even made it with Italian sausage. I bet it would fantastic with some lamb!
I'm always encouraging you to experiment, my dear reader. Experimentation leads to learning and growth! This applies to pretty much every facet of life.
Everyone ends up doing Shepherd's pie differently. I always do it differently. This recipe is but one incarnation. Make the recipe yours!

Shepherd's Pie

Tools
a 9X 13 casserole or larger (or smaller and use less stuff!)
a spatula for the frying pan
a frying pan for the spatula
a stove and oven
knife for chopping up vegetables
a can opener for those pesky cans of food

Ingredients
mashed potatoes (this has been done all over the internet. Here's a good recipe! For a super cheat, used narsty old boxed mash)
olive oil or vegetable oil (canola, sunflower, etc work too)
a diced up small-medium onion
a small can of corn (I like "peaches and cream". If you're feeling productive, feel free to use fresh corn!)
a small can of condensed cream of mushroom soup (this is a cheat! Use a rue-based cream gravy if you have the time and the knowhow! Rues will be covered one day in this here blog! Feel free to use cream of broccoli or cream of whatever, too!)
a pound of ground meat (beef, pork, lamb, chicken, turkey)
a cup of shredded cheddar cheese
garlic (fresh or powdered), about two cloves (finely chopped/smashed/equally obliterated) or a tablespoon of powdered
salt & pepper to taste
Optional: cayenne for some spiced kick
chili powder for fun (no profit, sorry)
other veg like chopped carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, spinach, etc.


Preparation

1. Toss a little oil in the pan and brown your onions. Sprinkle with a wee smidge of salt to help them brown. Go slow and this will add a lot of yummy flavour.
2. Add your garlic and toss it around with your onions until you can smell it.
3. Add your ground meat and brown it. Sprinkle on a wee bit of pepper and other spices if you're using any.
4. Dump the condensed can of mushroom soup over the meat and mix well, until heated.
5. Make sure your mashed potatoes are warm enough to smear around on top of everything!
6. Take your casserole dish or baking pan and line the bottom with the meat mix.
7. Layer on any veg you wish to use. This is where the corn goes on for me! My roomie likes to use mixed frozen veg. Also yum. (Mostly yum because I didn't have to cook it!)
8. Slather on delicious mashed potatoes! Make a nice heavy cap to top off all the other layers.
9. Sprinkle on cheese. Use more if you love the baked on cheese goodness.
10. Bake in a 400 degree F oven until it's all bubbly and brown and good (good = not burnt). This is about 30 minutes.
11. EAT!

Chicken Bother: We call it broth

For those who like soups, but don't know much about cooking, there is an important feature to it. It's called broth. Broth is basically made up of some vegetables and assorted carcasses, depending on you want. If you use chicken then it's chicken broth. If you use beef then it's beef broth. If you use your imagination then it's vegetable broth. It's all about personal preference there.

I've been a vegan for 8 going on 9 years. This might make you think that I was going to talk about vegetable broth but as the title says that's a rather big lie. I'm going to talk about making chicken broth because I just got to make some and it was delicious. This makes me a bad vegan (actually it makes me not a vegan at all, but that's for another time) but I feel the need to share this with those who might not know how to do it.

Step 1. Get yourself a chicken
Preferably dead and mostly eaten. You can have roasted it yourself, of purchased it from the store. We aren't picky and you shouldn't be either. What you want to do is break apart the chicken and pull all the meat you can off of it. You can use it for the soup later, but right now what you really want are the bones, and some of the skin if you can pull it off.
When you've got it all taken apart, put the chicken bones in a pot and put the chicken meat in the fridge.

Step 2. Water, water everywhere
You can fill the pot with water, enough so that it covers the chicken bones completely. Don't do anything just yet, but it's good to have the water ready.

Step 3. Vegetables
Despite the fact that this is a chicken broth, vegetables are totally needed. You're going to want to use the troika of vegetables. The Onion, the Carrot and the Celery. These three vegetables will make your broth amazingly awesome.
This is reason 58187298722 why making a broth is a good idea. You know how you get those bags of vegetables that you never seem to fully use? This is where they're going to go. I know I have never, ever used a full bag of onions before they've gone completely and created their own zombie onion hoard on me. Putting them in broths is a great way to deal with that. Same thing with carrots and celery though I tend to have less carrots and celery that goes bad. They don't really go bad, they just kind of wilt and get all emo on me.
Thankfully when you use these three vegetables you want to use double the amount of onions over the other two vegetables. That means if you use a couple of carrots and a couple of stalks of celery then you want to use two to three whole onions. No need to be fancy, just chop 'em in half and throw them into the pot.

Step 4. Na-Cl

Salt is perhaps one of the most important things in cooking. It does wonderful miraculous things to your food, especially if you put it in while you're cooking instead of afterward. You're going to want to put some salt in now. At the very least you want a couple of teaspoons, you may even want a tablespoon or two of the stuff. Some people might be cringing but understand this is going in several cups of water. It's a lot less salt per unit then if you just sprinkle the damned stuff on your food directly.

Step 5. Boil-boil-boil-boil
Now, you're going to want to top up the water so that everything is covered up nicely, put the lid on the let that sucker sit on a slow, gentle boil for a while. You'll let all those flavours marry in the pot and then you're going to want to go play a video game, read a book, grab your loved one and spend several hours of bliss. Whatever you want to do to make that time pass easier, go for it.

Step 6. Strain!

You've finished your extra-culinary activities and you feel that the broth is ready to go. Excellent, now you want to take all the things you put in there to make the water taste good and take them out. A colander will go far in this, as well as a bowl.

For the love of god finish reading this first because if you empty the stock into the sink because I told you to use a colander and you went in pasta auto-pilot and dumped it into the sink do not blame me. Seriously.

Step 7. Use!

Now, you can use the broth, or not. You can put it in a container and freeze it. You can use it add some non-wilty carrots and celery, a cup of rice and some of the chicken you ripped off to make some nice chicken and rice soup.

That's how you get a pretty serviceable chicken broth in seven steps.

-Jonathan

Grilling Without a Grill: I can do this?!

You live in an apartment with no balcony. You've got no yard space. You don't own a countertop grill (like the one's Mr. Foreman makes or better!). Your recipe says, "GRILL ME!"
Whattaya gonna do?!
Okay, aside from just trying another recipe you do have an option many do not consider. Your oven. Unless you live in a hut with a hotplate, you probably have an oven.The trick is using your broiler like an upside down BBQ flame.
I recommend pre-cooking thick meats like whole chicken breasts and pork chops before using the broiler to add some grilled char-taste. Buy a meat thermometer and learn how to use it!

Stuff you need!

• oven mitts
• patience
  
• an oven safe pan (to catch juices)
• a rack to go into the pan (I use an oven-safe cooling rack*)
  
• an oven with a broiler
• Adult supervision if you're a minor or if you just enjoy having people watch you cook, rrowrr!

Optional

• tongs
• aluminum foil to line your catch pan/tray

Steps!

1. Raise the oven rack inside the oven as close to the broiler as you can. Allow for the space you need to put the food in the oven. Several inches of clearance between food and broiler is preferred.
   
2. If you have children or nosy pets, LOCK THEM OUT OF THE KITCHEN!
3. Turn on your broiler and leave the oven door open a notch.
   
4. Take the meat/veg/etc you wish to grill and place it on the rack.
5. Place the rack on your lined catch pan.
6. Place the rack with catchpan in the oven and monitor just like you would the BBQ in the yard. Keep a close eye on it and turn your food when it starts to get that nice char.
7. Turn off the oven
8. Remove food from oven
9. ENJOY!

This whole process is handy for indoor kebobs and other good BBQ stuffs.
Obviously, this process will not get you the exact same results as a BBQ or a "real" grill, but it's close and a yummy approximation!

If you have any topic requests, please send them to me! Feedback is always welcome, too!

*I don't endorse the company at the other end of the link. It is for reference only. :)

Food Basics: Not Just a Grocery Store

A good friend of mine is adjusting to a move from New Jersey to British Columbia. She's getting married on July 24. I say "congrats!" I've said a lot of other things, as well.
She's requested my first content entry be about the basic things I think should be in your cupboards and your fridge.
A lot of trial an error have gone into my choices. I also feel that a basic knowledge of cooking techniques play an important role in what you select. Keep in mind, I've been living on my own (see: not with parents) for awhile and with folks who tend not to cook much for the better part of it.
Here's my list and my reasoning! This is primarily geared toward novice cooks and kitchen newbies!

1. flour - This is a food building block. Learn the basics and then move on to whole wheat flour, soy flour, and so on. It will expand your food world! Also, bleached white flour should not be a building block for everything you eat. It's just a place to begin.
2. baking powder - It's baking powder! You're going to need this if you enjoy BAKING. :)
3. baking soda - This stuff is good for your recipes AND it soaks up smells. Try to keep the box sealed off with a plastic bag or some clingfilm and a rubber band. No one wants their Irish Soda Bread to taste like the entire pantry cabinet. Yeech.
4. A wide variety of spices and herbs - These do start to lose flavour after awhile. Knowing how long it's been on the shelf in the store before you got it is also a crapshoot. Unless you're a major-league foodie, though, it's not so big a deal. I recommend having: ginger powder, garlic powder, oregano, chili powder, cumin, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cayenne pepper, black pepper, basil and bay leaves as your basics. Pick up new ones as your recipes call for them. I plan to do an entire entry on the spices of India. Yummy!
5. salt - The great demon, Sodium. Yes. You're going to need it. I recommend having some standard table salt and some large chunky kosher salt. It really does come in handy.
6. sugar - White is great for most of your average recipes. Sugar comes in many varieties, however. These include demerara, dark brown, light brown, and "natural". Buy as needed for recipes. Definitely have some white and brown on hand.
7. a few bags of pasta - I try to keep the whole wheat kind on hand. If you're super poor, just grab the dollar deal bags of pasta and hope for better days. This stuff is good for Italian dinners with spagehtti sauce, pasta salads and you can even whip it into dessert form with recipes like this!
8. rice - This stuff really does feed the world and you can do a lot with it. I recommend brown rice if you've got cooking time and if you can't make time, just get some tasty jasmine rice. It'll do you for most recipes. This stuff isn't a diet staple for nothing. If you don't move around a lot, though, I recommend passing on the rice. I'll wax poetic about Glycemic Index foods later.
9. beans - Pinto, kidney, lentils, legumes of all sorts. These babies are dry, last in your cabinets forever (almost!) and are VERY affordable food powerhouses of nutrition. Good protein sources, they're also packed with fiber. We so need more fiber!
10. cooking oils - For you impoverished novice cooks, vegetable oil and a nicer extra virgin olive oil are a must. The veg oils can withstand higher cooking temperatures and e.v. olive oil is a must have for salad dressings and roasting garlic
11. vinegar - White should get you by. Get some balsamic for high class salad dressing.
    
12. butter - Salted is just okay. Try to get the unsalted when you can afford it.
13. corn starch - It's a thickener. It's also handy when you have chaffed thighs. Don't ask.
    
14. corn meal - The basis for polenta, corn bread and used to sprinkle under some breads before baking. Corn meal is also handy for thickening certain things like chili!
15. Vanilla extract - The other extracts like almond and rum are just icing on the proverb cake. Make sure you have vanilla. Try to avoid "imitation".
    
16. peanut butter - This is good for sandwiches, cookies, Thai recipes and so on! Try to get all-natural. It tastes better and it doesn't have all the nasty preservatives.
17. Fruit jams and preserves - Good for that PB & J you're craving as well as tasty (and easy) jam tarts and thumbprint cookies.
18. Fresh garlic cloves - I found a huge bag of garlic at the Asian food store. The skins had already been removed and the garlic had been cleaned. If you go through a lot, this is the way to go! I only spent about three dollars on that bag. I love it. If you buy it in clove form, be sure to inspect it for black dusty stuff. That's mold and you don't want moldy garlic.
    
19. Fresh ginger - It's fantastic to steep for a tea when you're sick (anti-viral capabilities, anyone?) or nasueated. Ginger is a food staple when it comes to all kinds of worldwide cuisines. Have a good thumb of it in the fridge at all times! I insist.
20. a few fresh limes and lemons - These are great in a glass of water and recipes are ALWAYS yelling for a lime or some lemon zest. They're cheap and great for vitamin C.
21. a bag of potatoes - Fries, mashed, boiled, used to make stamps. Potatoes are a good friend in the kitchen. Store them in the dark and dry places or they'll grow roots out of their "eyes". Scrub your potatoes before cooking and cut off the green/dark spots.
22. a jar of yeast or a few packets of it - This is the stuff of leavened bread. Cinnemon rolls need yeast, your French bread needs yeast. Have some around.
23. Onions - stores will typically sell a bag of several yellow onions. This will do you for most recipes. Make sure the onions are firm (little to no give when you squeeze with your fingertips) and don't have black dusty stuff on them (mold!)
24. Milk - How much you purchase at a time will depend on your use. Do you eat a bowl of Frosted Flakes every day? Do you live with more than just yourself? Perhaps you could go as far as getting bagged milk! It's cost effective if you're able to use it up before it goes bad. The lactose-free milk is a bit more costly (well, about twice as much!) but it doesn't go bad as fast. At least, in my experience.
25. A few cans of diced, whole, pureed tomatoes and maybe some tomato paste, too. Indispensable!
26. cocoa powder - Emergency cake in a mug for those munchies or chocolate cravings requires cocoa powder!
27. eggs - You just need eggs.
28. cheese - I recommend a 6-7 dollar block of cheese from places like No Frills here in Canada. This will last you through about a week or so of snacks, mac and cheese and salad toppings. I like to have mozzarella or cheddar around.

I must've missed something but, I think you get the general idea. Aside from all that, you should also have green leafy veg. in abundance. This stuff is the reason old Japanese people are so long-lived! Cruciferous veggies are your lifelong pals. Eat them. You don't make friends with salad, after all.
I also think this is one of the most focused things I've done in awhile. I think this will be good for me. If ya'll have questions, feel free to write or post a comment. If you have topic ideas or stuff you want to know more about, let me know! I'll do my best!