Spicy Shepherd's Pie

I bought the "Comfy food" package of the Jamie Oliver's application on my iPad a couple of months ago, thinking that this will help me to go through the grey winter months of Sweden. Well! In the last couple of weeks, we have been trying some of those recipe, and so far, so good! Most of those recipes look good, and every one that we've tried is good! Of course, we have made some small adjustments because Jamie is a little bit like our Quebec Ricardo: they both expect that we have a nice bio garden or a bio farm in our backyard... Well, WE DON'T!!! Sometimes, we can't have our little nice bio eggs, or the best quality of happy lamb meet... Bottom line, we cut some corners but the results are still sooooooo good! Here is our version, of Jamie Oliver's Spicy Shepherd's Pie, an English classic (revisited), for 4 peoples.

Peel a piece (2cmx2cm) of fresh root ginger, 3 cloves of garlic. Add in a food processor half a red bell pepper and half a red onion (keep the other half of both at hand... they will come back soon enough!) until finely chopped (or if you are me: until it's a nice paste!).

Put a frying pan on high heat and add a couple of tablespoons of butter, 500g of grounded beef (or lamb) and a big teaspoon of hot curry paste (it's a red paste). The recipe calls for 1.5 teaspoon, you can adjust according to your taste for hotness ;). Fry for 5 to 10 minutes, breaking up any lumps of beef with a wooden spoon, cook thoroughly. Add the other half of both the onion and the bell pepper thinly sliced and paste from the food processor to the pan. Reduce the heat and cook for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. It will smell gooooooood! Add 425ml of canned diced/mashed tomatoes and 125ml of water, mix well and bring to a boil on high heat. Bring the heat down, and let simmer uncovered for 30 minutes, or until thick.

While this cook, peel 700-800g of potatoes and cook until mashable (purist will call to boil them, we use the microwave ;) Pick the cilantro leaves from a small bunch (adjust to taste) and finely chop them. Mix with the cooked potatoes with a teaspoon of mustard, mash everything together with a couple of tablespoons of butter, salt and pepper.

After the mix in the pan is the right texture, add 375ml of frozen peas, stir and pour in an ovenproof baking dish. Spoon the potatoes on the top. Texture the top of the potatoes with a fork, the little peaks will be nicely crunchy after being in the oven.

Cook in the oven for 45 minutes at 180C. The top should be golden and crisp. Enjoy on cold grey winter days :)