One thing that we’ve noticed over the years is that food plays such an important role our in lives and not just for fuel but for entertaining and providing us with fond memories too.
We’ve chatted to some of Ireland’s well-known faces to discover their favourite dishes and meals, be it from their childhood or simply something they like to rustle up at home.
Michele McGrath is a TV presenter, singer, actress and model who's considered to be one of Assets Agencies most familiar faces having fronted many campaigns and commercials.
Here in her own words, Michele describes her favourite recipe to cook, shepherd's pie:
"One of my fav recipes from childhood was my mom's shepherd's pie. I've since started to make my own healthy version using sweet potatoes instead of normal potatoes. I also include beef mince, carrots, onions, peas in this dish and it is healthy and delicious!
"To me it's my comfort dish when I'm missing my family and I always ask my mom to make it when I'm visiting my family home."
Michele's Shepherd's Pie
Preheat oven to 200°C
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon quality olive oil
- 1 white onion, finely chopped
- 1 large carrot, finely chopped
- 250g peas (frozen)
- 500g beef mince
- 2 tablespoons plain flour
- 500ml beef stock
- 1 tablespoon tomato purée
- Salt & freshly ground black pepper
- 200g sweet potatoes, peeled, chopped
- 40g butter
- 125ml milk
Method:
- Heat the olive oil in a large pan over a medium heat to get it sizzling.
- Add in your chopped onion, carrot and peas and cook away in the pan, stirring every-so-often, for about 5 minutes or until soft.
- Add your beef mince, and break up any lumps in the mixture until brown.
- Stir in the flour and cook until well-combined.
- Add in your stock along with the tomato purée and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to low for 30 minutes or until the sauce mixture thickens.
- Taste and season with salt and pepper.
For the topping:
- Cook the sweet potatoes in a saucepan of salted boiling water for 15 minutes or until tender and drain well.
- Return to a pan with butter and mash it up until smooth.
- Add in your milk and stir until combined with the potatoes.
- Taste and season with salt and pepper.
Finally:
- Spoon your beef mince mixture into an ovenproof baking dish.
- Top your minced beef with your mashed sweet potato.
- Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until the potato is golden or slightly crispy.
