Budget Recipes

The cold weather has started, warm comfort food is necessary. That is why I am presenting you with a fairly simple recipe that can be made after work or school in time for tea or can be made as a wholesome Sunday dinner. I admit that in my family that we don't eat any proper Sunday dinner (joint of meat with vegetables) in the six weeks before Christmas so that we will really enjoy Christmas dinner when it comes around

After mentioning that I was making Savoury Mince Beef Cobblers one day to another Ciao member and hearing that she had never heard of them, I was encouraged to publish the recipe. Now although it is obviously one passed down from my ever knowledgeable mother, it really is easy to make, you don't need as many catering certificates as she has to make it, I assure you!

I have classed this as a budget recipe as I usually have most of the ingredients and I am sure that when you read them, you will agree that they usually hang around your cupboards as well. The biggest expense is mince which is a very cheap meat and I tend to pay about £2 for mine.

Savoury Mince Beef Cobbler
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Preparation Time
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The preparation of this takes around 10 minutes, to find all of the ingredients and chop the vegetables.
It will then take a further 15 minutes or so to cook of the mince, 15 minutes or so to make the Cobblers and a further 15 minutes to cook.

In to total the actual preparation is around 10 minutes and then 45 minutes to cook.

You will find that the more you make this, the quicker this becomes as you will not be standing watching the mince, you will be making the Cobblers.

Ingredients
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Mince, I tend to use one of the 500g packs of lean mince at all times, usually the Best range from Morrisons as it seems to have less fat than the local butchers when cooked.
Onion, depending on size, three small onions or one large, also depending on your taste
Carrots, I use three average sized carrots
Peas, optional, I tend to just throw a few in to convince myself I am healthy
Gravy, premixed or the granules, any will do, but I admit, alas I can not make my own gravy, waiting for the mother in law to teach me…
Water to thin the mixture
Ice cubes, I'll tell you why later.

6oz self raising flour, I like Be-Ro; they really are a good quality flour. Make sure it isn't lumpy.
2oz margarine, I use Morrisons own margarine now, in a yellow tub, it is soft and ideal for all types of baking.
A pinch of salt, I use lo salt in an attempt to be slightly healthy (a lot of pretence in my healthy eating, you would think I would give in and do it properly wouldn't you!)
And water to mix. No, not bottled or anything fancy. Just fill a small tumbler and have it ready.

Utensils
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Spoon,
Whisk, (depending on how you make gravy)
Jug,
Pan,
Knife,
Chopping board,
Rolling pin,
Scone Cutter, (if you have one)
A large oven proof dish that has a lid, a large Pyrex type one would be ideal.

Method
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* Dice the onions and the carrots in preparation or the main meal. Nothing difficult about this, other than not chopping your fingers off… Make sure that the carrot and onion are diced finely so that they will cook quickly, crunchy carrot is not the aim of this dish!

* Unpack the mince and take the paper of the bottom, I know most of you will go, oh goodness, but remember, a lot of people looking for budget recipes may be students that have never cooked before!

* Place the mince into a pan and brown off. Don't worry about oil, the juices from the mince will stop it sticking as long as you carry on stirring it and begin on a low temperature.

* Now take the pan of mince and using the pan with the lid on, drain the juices into a jug, as you would pour water away from vegetables to make proper gravy. Now that you have strained the juices, allow them a minute to cool while you are adding the onions to the pan.

* Place a few ice cubes into the jug with the juices in. You will see the fat stick to the ice cubes and you can scoop it off the top. Now this is slightly unnecessary I hear you say. It isn't, it makes sure that there is not too much fat in the mince and makes it a healthier meal.

* Pour the juices back into the mince and onions and stir well allowing time for the onions to cook until they are soft.

* Now add the mince and onions to an ovenproof dish with a lid. Preferably a large one that allows you to spread the mince over the bottom quite thickly but will also leave enough room for the cobblers, bearing in mind that they do spread.

* Mix in the vegetables that you have chosen to use.

* Make up gravy and add to mince. Try and get nice thick gravy so that you can be sure that the Cobblers won't sink! Put this into the oven with the lid in place on a heat of around 190˚c or gas mark 7 whilst you make the Cobblers. If you need to, this will last for a couple of hours on a low heat until you get around to making the Cobblers.

* Now to mix the Cobblers, rub the margarine, salt and flour together. This is basically how you would rub scones together.

* Mix with water until they become the same consistency as scones. If you are new to cooking you will need to rub in water or you will have a flaky residue in the bottom of the bowl. Add the water slowly; adding too much will mean that you aren't able to roll the mixture out; it will stick to the rolling pin.

* Scatter some flour on a clean surface and lay the mixture out. Roll out and cut into circles, like you would with scones, using a scone cutter. The circles should be around half an inch thick or around 2-3cms as they will rise.

* When you have cooked the mince in the oven, which should take around the length of time it has taken you to mix the Cobblers, depending on the size of the carrots, place the Cobblers on top of the mince. Now at this point it is better to remove the lid to make sure that the Cobblers brown.

* You should then bake on 190˚c /gas mark 7 for about 10 - 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Just a little note to let you know that if you do not like dumplings, don't worry. These are completely different as they do not contain suet. They are a similar consistency of a scone but with a blander taste on their own, when cooked in mince, they are delicious because of the flavour of the mince and onion seeping through and they are very filling.

I serve these with mashed potatoes and any vegetables I have to hand and thoroughly enjoy them. This is a fairly easy meal to prepare, can be fairly quick to make after the first couple of times and is nice and filling for this time of year.

Thanks for reading.

Kirst