Gel Jose

Ready-to-eat dishes from San Miguel Foods and Petron Treats

Momshies, does working from home still leave you with little time to prepare and cook your family’s meals?

Worry no more, because San Miguel Foods has a line of pre-cooked dishes that are sure to be showstoppers at the dinner table.

With these ready-to-eat dishes, you won’t have to stress yourself out in the kitchen: all you have to do is heat, serve and enjoy!

I was able to serve some of these to my fam for lunch. Check them out:

Cook Express Chicken Karaage (Php424 for 1 kilo). Karaage is a Japanese cooking technique in which food items – mostly chicken – are marinated and lightly coated in flour prior to frying in light oil. After I’ve heated the chicken karaage in my oven, I found it close to restaurant quality, especially when accompanied with Japanese mayonnaise.

Cook Express Lechon Paksiw (Php495 for 1 kilo). I usually encounter lechon paksiw the day after big celebrations like fiestas or Noche Buena because this is the Pinoy mom’s answer to “”What happens to all those lechon leftovers?” (at least those not carried away by the Tupperware-toting guests, hehehe!). The leftover lechon is simmered in vinegar and the liver-based lechon sauce resulting in a dish with fork-tender roasted pork meat in sweet-sour-savory sauce that’s good for another family mealtime.

Cook Express Beef Kare Kare (Php693 for 1 kilo). I have great appreciation for kare-kare every time it is served to me at the dinner table because I know how much effort went into making it. My mom used to grind peanuts herself, meticulously clean and boil the animal parts prior to cooking up a great tasting peanut-y beef stew. This one has the same tender meat and peanut sauce I love and is enjoyed best with bagoong. Add in some veggies string beans, eggplant slices and pechay and it’s almost like the kare-kare that my mommy used to make.

Chef’s Selection Fresh Corned Beef (Php655 for 900 grams). Corned beef is called that because in the process of salt-curing the meat, it is treated with large grains (or “corns”) of salt. Today, it is one of my favorite breakfast food when served with fried rice and a sunny side up egg. This corned beef version differs from the canned iteration because the beef comes in chunks, not flakes. Still, it can be sliced up thinly to be sauteed with garlic and onions, or added to beef broth and veggies for a fresh take on nilaga.

So momshies, there’s no need to sweat it out in the kitchen. Just order these ready-to-eat dishes and more from San Miguel Foods through this website and schedule pick up at your nearest Petron Treats store.

Thanks to Harvard of AlwaysHungry.PH for sharing from his ulam stash!

#QuarantineCookbook: Sausage Pasta with The Saucier’s Creamy Sundried Tomatoes

Today, I was faced with a Mommy Problem: What do you do when dinner time is near and all that’s left in your freezer are some Hungarian sausages?

How did I get to this state? Well, I blame it on the quarantine… and, okay, on me too.

I thought I stocked the ref with two week’s worth of meats for the fam’s ulam, but apparently, I was one day short. Here’s the thing: during the quarantine, my city imposed specific market days when residents of a certain area can go to the wet markets or grocery stores to restock on food items.

When is our area’s next market day? Tomorrow. When did we run out of beef, pork or chicken for our ulam? Today.

Yikes!

Fortunately, I espied a package of Hungarian sausages and some fusili pasta that I bought at the nearest Landers branch during my last grocery run. Plus, a friend of mine recently sent me a bottle of Creamy Sundried Tomato from The Saucier.

So I had an idea: why not make a Sausage Pasta using The Saucier’s Creamy Sundried Tomato?

In the culinary industry, a saucier, also known as the saute chef, prepares the sauces, stews and the hot hors d’oeuvres as well as sautes food to order.

As I discovered, if you have a bottle or two of The Saucier’s homemade and preservatives-free sauces and dressings, it’s like you have your very own saucier in your kitchen.

Sun-dried tomatoes, in case you’re wondering, are made by drying out ripe tomatoes in the sun after treating them with salt so that they lose most of their water content. This is a traditional way of preserving tomatoes in Europe, guaranteeing a steady supply that can be enjoyed and provide nutrition during the winter months. Sun-dried tomatoes also have a more intense sweet-tart flavor than fresh tomatoes, making their use popular across a variety of dishes throughout the world.

The Saucier’s Creamy Sun-dried Tomato is made of sun-dried tomatoes, cream, olive oil and spices, definitely no preservatives. Since it already has cream incorporated in the sauce, it saved me the effort of experimenting the ratio of cream to sauce that would have plagued me if what I had on-hand was just plain sun-dried tomato. Whew!

Wanna know how my bright idea turned out? Here’s the recipe I used:

Ingredients:

250 grams fusili pasta, cooked according to package instructions and drained well
5 links of Hungarian sausage, boiled for twenty minutes until cooked, then sliced thinly
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 chicken bouillion cube, dissolved in 1 cup hot water (my substitute for 1 cup chicken broth)
1/2 cup The Saucier’s Creamy Sun-dried Tomato
1/4 cup grated Parmesan (apparently, I also ran out of this cheese, so I used the remaining half tablespoon of parmesan and substituted the rest with ordinary cheese)
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

In a large saucepan or casserole over medium heat, melt the butter in the olive oil. Add the garlic, and cook for up to two minutes, stirring frequently until fragrant.

Whisk in the flour for one minute until it turns light brown, then gradually whisk in the chicken broth whisking constantly for up to two minutes until the flour is well incorporated into the broth.

Stir in the creamy sun-dried tomato, cheese and red pepper flakes. Season with salt and pepper.

Stir in pasta and sausage until these are well-coated with the sauce.

The resulting pasta dish is rich in taste and has a creamy texture.

Well, if the emptied-out casserole and the happy faces of my fam are any indication, I would say this makeshift dinner was a success, thanks in large part to the new and wonderful flavors introduced by The Saucier’s Creamy Sundried Tomato.

For more details or to get your hands on The Saucier’s sauces and dressings, as well as its tasty Mushroom Burger (more on this coming soon!), visit The Saucier on Facebook or call +63 2 76233600, +63 2 79015526 or +63 917 8870125.

Looking for other easy-to-cook dishes to try out while in quarantine? Check out my other kitchen adventures:

#QuarantineCookbook: Homemade Avocado Ice Cream Cake

Relief from this summer’s oppressive heat and humidity is few and far between.

It makes me want to cool down with some frozen treat. How about you?

Well, since I recently learned how to make homemade ice cream, I set about learning how to add a twist to it: make it into a cake!

And of course, I just had to try it with my favorite fruit: the avocado!

This fruit has been having quite a resurgence lately, appearing in a variety of trendy and previously unheard-of dishes from toasts to pastas. However, the avocado’s real siren call to me is as a dessert. Its rich and creamy texture, as well as its earthy flavor make the avocado absolutely sensational when sweetened, making it a great showcase ingredients for desserts such as this homemade avocado ice cream cake.

It turned out to be so easy!

Ingredients:

For the crust:

2 cups crushed Christia toasted bread (can be replaced by an equal amount of crushed Graham crackers)
1 stick of softened butter
3 tbsp white sugar

For the ice cream:

1 cup avocado puree (made by pureeing the flesh of two ripe avocados in a blender)
1 300ml can of condensed milk
2 cups heavy whipping cream

Procedure:

In a bowl, combine the crushed Christia toasted bread, butter and sugar. Press the crumb mixture onto the bottom of two 6″ x 2″ cake tins then set aside.

In another bowl, mix together the avocado puree, the condensed milk and heavy cream at low speed until the ingredients are well-combined and the mixture begins to thicken.

Increase the mixer speed to medium and continue mixing until the mixture forms stiff peaks.

Transfer the mixture into the prepared cake tins, gently pressing the mixture into the containers and smoothing out the top using a spatula.

Freeze for at least six hours or overnight.

What you get is a wonderful creamy blend of avocado sweetness and crumbly buttery crust with each spoonful. My kids (and I!) absolutely love it!

Well, it sure looks like I’ve got new favorite dessert!

Plus, wouldn’t you know it! You can use this recipe to make other fruit-based ice cream cakes! You might need to adjust the amount of condensed milk you use depending on the native sweetness of the fruit you’re using. Check them out:

Mango!

Banana!

Strawberry!

If ever you need to bring dessert to a potluck party or want to give out ice cream cakes as gifts, you know you can always whip ’em up in a jiffy.

Which fruits would you like to make into homemade ice cream cakes? Try this recipe with your favorite fruit and let me know how it turns out.

PS: Truth be told, the recipe originally called for Graham crackers but after scouring through three supermarkets looking for this out-of-stock item, I decided to use Christia toasted bread as a substitute. It had a buttery flavor and a more crumbly texture that went well with the ice cream. Still, if you want a more conventional crust for your ice cream cake, you may opt to stick to the crushed Graham crackers.

Looking for other easy-to-cook dishes to try out while in quarantine? Check out my other recipes:

#QuarantineCookbook: Slow Cooker Pork Roast

Wanna know what my fam and I had for our Mother’s Day meal?

Pork Loin Roast with Herb-Buttered Vegetables!

If you find the name of the dish intimidating, don’t worry. It’s actually quite easy to do. (I have a “no-frills, no fuss” philosophy when it comes to home-cooking.)

Well, the ease of preparing this dish, of course, requires that you have the right tools, the most important of which is a slow cooker.

A slow cooker is a counter-top kitchen appliance used to simmer food in lower temperatures than other cooking methods which facilitates unattended cooking for many hours. The result: cheaper cuts of meat become fork tender and produce more flavorful stews.

You would think that using the slow cooker would entail a lot of hours slaving away in the kitchen.

Well, my hack for this recipe is to place the pork loin in the slow cooker and set the time for eight hours before bed time. The meat will be fully cooked by the time I wake.

So check out how easy it is to make this dish!

Ingredients:

For the rub:

1 tsp ground dried rosemary
1 tsp roasted garlic and herb seasoning
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil

For the roast:

2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 1/2 c water
1 1/2 kilo roast pork loin
1/2 pork bouillion cube

For the sides:

5 medium potatoes, boiled then cut into quarters
1 medium carrot, cut into strips then parboiled
1 bundle French beans, parboiled
1 tsp ground dried rosemary
1 tsp roasted garlic and herb seasoning
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter

Procedure:

In a small mixing bowl, combine the rub ingredients until well-mixed. Massage the rub into the pork roast, then place into a Ziplock bag and place in the refrigerator for up to six hours. That will help the meat absorb all the lovely flavors from the rub.

In a flat pan, melt the butter in olive oil then sear the marinated pork loin for up to 2 two minutes per side.

Place the pork loin in the slow cooker along with the water and pork cube. Cook on low for eight to ten hours.

Place the slow-cooked pork loin in a baking pan. Surround the pork loin with the vegetables. Sprinkle the vegetables with salt, pepper, garlic, rosemary and garlic and herb seasoning. Distribute dabs of butter among the vegetables then place in a 200 deg C oven for fifteen minutes. The meat is already cooked from the slow cooker. This will heat it up for your meal as well further brown the skin of the meat.

Lightly toss the vegetables to evenly distribute the melted butter and seasonings prior to serving.

This recipe serves ten. My household of five had two takes with this dish, as we had quite a lot of leftovers after the first serving.

Looking for other easy-to-cook dishes to try out while in quarantine? Check out my other recipes:

This post contains affiliate links.

Buffalo’s Wings N’ Things, Tomas Morato

If you’re eating lunch with a big group and you all want to stay together in one place, what do you do?

Head straight to Buffalo Wings N’ Things, of course! Here, everyone in the fam and barkada will find something to like.

Deep-frying chicken wings is rooted in Southern cooking but cooking them in peppery sauces started in Buffalo, New York in 1964. A bar owner in the area decided to cook leftover wings in hot sauce as a snack for her son and his friends. Served with celery slices and bleu cheese, it was a hit among the guys and the rest, as they say, is history.

Buffalo Wings N’ Things enriches its buffalo wings by having eleven savory flavors and seven spicy ones for its customers to choose from, along with tasty add-ons that chicken lovers can enjoy along with their Buffalo Wings.

While out on my lunch break with my office buddies (ten people in total!), we decided to maximize our budgets while sating our hunger by getting Grand Slam bundles of Buffalo Wings, and, well, things:

Grand Slam 6 (Php688 Good for 4). 8 pcs Champion Buffalo Wings, 8 pcs Signature Chicken Tenders,Bacon & Cheese Fries, steamed rice (we added Php98 for iced tea.

Grand Slam 4 (Php988 Good for 6). 12 pcs Champion Buffalo Wings, 12 pcs Signature Chicken Tenders, Chili n’ Cheese Nachos, steamed rice (we added Php138 for iced tea.

With these bundles, we were able to enjoy these Buffalo Wings flavors:

Honey BBQ. Southern BBQ flavor blended with sweet honey.

Creamy Salted Egg. Rich and creamy version of the regional favorite.

Chipotle Lime. Creamy smoked Chipotle sauce enhanced with the tanginess of freshly squeezed lime juice.

Garlic Parmesan. A blend of garlic butter sauce and real Parmesan cheese.

New York’s Finest. Medium heat Buffalo Wing sauce.

Thanks to the bundles, our meal amounted to just a little Php200 per person!

How’s that for value for money?

The good news for chicken lovers out there is that you can enjoy these with your family at home during the quarantine by ordering from these Buffalo Wings N’ Things branches now open for takeout or delivery via GrabFood, FoodPanda or LalaFood:

Brixton Kapitolyo, Pasig
Banawe, QC
Calle Bistro , Ever Gotesco Commonwealth
BGC Stopover
SM Manila
Grace Mall, Taguig
SM North EDSA
SMDC Jazz Mall
Southwoods Mall
SM Valenzuela

This Buffalo Wings N’ Things branch is located at M Place, Panay Avenue, South Triangle, Quezon City.

The Jelly List: Desserts for Delivery During Quarantine

How are your sweet cravings, foodies?

Sugar addicts like me are sure to be missing their usual dessert places with many restos and cafes closing shop during the enhanced community quarantine.

If your usual dessert haunts are currently inaccessible, you’ll be happy to know that desserts and baked goodies from these stores are available for delivery.

1. Cookies from Sugar Creations by Alex

“C is for cookie. That’s good enough for me.”

For all you Cookie Monsters out there, mommy Alex whips up crave-worthy cookies like Dark Chocolate, Dark Oatmeal, Classic Chocolate Chip and Smookies.

To order, call +63 988 5447945, or send a message via Instagram or Facebook.

2. Breads from Chloe Creations Bakeshop

Even if you’re working from home, you can still use a coffee break.

Have a few pieces of Ubechizdesal or a slice or two of Banana Loaf to go with your favorite cuppa.

To order, call + 63 915 3196411 or send a message via Instagram or Facebook.

3. Cakes from Carla Kusinera

C’mon… you know there’s always room for dessert! There’s nothing like a sweet treat to cap off a great meal.

So how about a slice of Carla Kusinera’s light and fluffy Creme Brulee Cake or decadent Chocolate Cake?

To order, call +63 917 5638785 or send a message via Instagram or Facebook.

4. Mocha Dalgona Avocado Gelato from What’s Your Flan?

With the summer heat intensifying, what we sometimes need is to cool down with a a frozen treat.

Indulge yourself with a tin of Mocha Dalgona Avocado Gelato (with real Dalgona candies) from What’s Your Flan?!

To order, call +63 916 4978876 or send a message via Instagram or Facebook.

5. Burnt Basque Cheesecake from Sweet Samthings

My birthday-in-quarantine was still a happy one with this lusciously milky and custardy Burnt Basque Cheesecake from Sweet Samthings.

To order, call +63 917 6183443 or send a message via Instagram or Facebook.

6. Apple Pie from Yellowbakerbug

Want a taste of home-style apple pie? I know I did last Mother’s Day!

That smell of cinnamon that wafted from the crumbly and sweetly spiced pastry from Yellowbakerbug got me and the fam salivating! Its crisp apple slices and buttery crumb topping make it a perfect dessert for my Mother’s Day meal.

To order, send a message via Instagram or Facebook.

Now you know who to call to sate your sweet cravings during quarantine!

Thanks to Harvard of AlwaysHungryPH for sharing the goodies from Chloe Creations Bakeshop, Karla Kusinera and What’s Your Flan?

Check out my other adventures compiled into Jelly Lists:

For the kids at heart – Scout’s Honor, Ayala Malls Vertis North

Every once in a while, even responsible and serious adults need to let loose their inner child.

Well, guess what: you can do exactly that the camp-themed Scout’s Honor branch in Ayala Malls Vertis North.

Designed to be a place where kids can hang out and enjoy their favorite food, it can also be a place for adults to give in to their playful side.

Together with my officemates, I set out to allow my inner child free rein over lunch at Scout’s Honor.

There, we munched on kid- and kid-at-heart-friendly fare which included:

Crackers, while waiting for our order.

Campfire Potatoes (Ph135). Handcut fries deep-fried to a crisp golden-brown topped with bacon bits and doused with cheese sauce.

Crispy Calamari and Chips (Php165). Crispy battered squid rings flavored with oregano and fennel and served with freshly crisped potato chips.

Scout’s Honor Cheeseburger (Php160 + Php75 for drink and fries). Scout’s Signature beef patty topped with melted cheese sauce between buttery toasted buns.

Tapsilog (Php245). Sukiyaki-cut USDA Beef tapa served with garlic rice, two sunny side up eggs, atchara and spiced vinegar.

Burger Silog (Php235). An all-beef burger steak in savory gravy served with garlic rice, two sunny side up eggs, atchara and spiced vinegar.

1 Bite 2 Bite (Php80/10 pieces). Mini-bite size milk chocolate chip cookies that we divided among ourselves.

I love how Scout’s Honor totally gets a kid’s predilection for melted cheese sauce, and of course, cookies!

And since two of us unlocked our Zomato Gold provileges here, we got two of these dishes for free!

Want to have some of that kiddie joy right at home?

During the enhanced community quarantine, two of Scout’s Honor’s branches are open from 11am to 7pm Tuesdays to Sundays with a special menu for takeout, delivery via GrabFood and FoodPanda or pickup via Grab Assistant or Lalamove Purchase Service:

Uptown Bonifacio: To order, call +63 917 631 0765 or +63 2 79467374
Santolan Town Plaza: To order, call +63 917 7061607 or +63 2 77288902

This Scout’s Honor branch is located at Level 1, Ayala Malls Vertis North, Bagong Pag-Asa, Quezon City with store hours from 8am to 10pm daily. For inquiries and reservations, call +63 2 79406480 or +63 917 7021404.

Other branches are located at:

Estancia Mall, Capitol Commons, Oranbo, Pasig
Uptown Place Mall, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
Santolan Town Plaza, Little Baguio, San Juan
SM City North EDSA, Bago Bantay, Quezon City
SM City Fairview, Novaliches, Quezon City
Century City Mall, Poblacion, Makati
Robinsons Place Manila, Ermita, Manila

Ramen fave at Ramen Nagi, Trinoma

Whenever my officemates and I get that craving for ramen, we head straight for the Ramen Nagi branch nearest to our workplace: the one at Trinoma Mall.

We even agree on which ramen to sate our craving on: the Butao King (Php395). It’s Ramen Nagi’s award-winning tonkotsu pork broth, painstakingly prepared in the traditional method, with fresh hand-crafted noodles and classic Nagi pork chashu.

It’s a magical bowl of flavor that can fill you up, warm your tummy, lift your spirits and power you on for the rest of the day.

Last year, Ramen Nagi offered a free bowl of Butao King to birthday celebrants so long as they’re accompanied by someone paying for bowl of Butao King. So every time someone’s birthday month would come along, there would be a clamoring to go to Ramen Nagi to take advantage of the offer, thereby cementing the Butao King as everyone’s favorite ramen bowl from Ramen Nagi.

This Ramen Nagi branch is located at Garden Wing Area, Upper Ground Floor, Trinoma Mall, Bagong Pag-Asa, Quezon City.

Craving for ramen during the enhanced community quarantine? Worry not! Ramen Nagi recently launched its first-ever takeout box – the Ramen-to-Go (Php790/box). It’s a kit with two servings of Ramen Nagi broth (available flavors include Butao, Red, Black and Green King), noodles, pork chashu, vegetables, minced garlic, green onions, and the other ramen toppings, thereby allowing you to be a Ramen Chef at Home. To get your own box, place your order at the Ramen Nagi website at least two days in advance.

Selected Ramen Nagi branches are also open during the ECQ for takeout and delivery serving these areas:

Trinoma: Quezon City, San Juan, Pasig and Caloocan
Alabang Town Center: Alabang, Las Pinas, Muntinlupa, Paranaque
Signa: Makati, Taguig, Manila, Mandaluyong, Pasay

#QuarantineCookbook: Bulalo Steak from Leftovers

Hmm… What to do with leftover Bulalo? Make a Bulalo Steak with it!

Anybody who knows me is aware that almost nothing gets my hackles up than wasting food.

That’s why when Hubby (again!) flexed his culinary muscles to bring about some steaming-hot Bulalo for our family’s lunch and had a lot of leftovers – whick included meat, potatoes and broth – I just had to find a way to finish off all that food within the day.

(Note, though, that the leftovers resulted from his overestimation on the fam’s capacity to devour two kilograms of meaty beef shanks, despite how yummy the resulting dish was. )

Well, thanks to the leftovers, the Bulalo Steak for the fam’s dinner was quite easy to whip up using ingredients which were already on-hand.

Ingredients:

(Leftover from the Bulalo)
1 kilo cooked beef shanks, sliced into 1 1/2-inch thick pieces
2 cups of cubed boiled potatoes
1 1/2 cups Bulalo broth, strained

(Additional Vegetables)
1 bunch of French beans (could be substituted with Baguio beans)
1 large carrot, cut into thin strips

(Additional ingredients for the sauce)
6 tbsp butter
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup sliced Champignon mushrooms
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tbsp liquid seasoning

Procedure:

Re-heat the cooked beef shanks by placing them in a baking dish and into a 200 dec C oven for twenty minutes.

In a saucepan over low heat, melt four tablespoons butter, then add the flour, mixing to form a paste. Add in the milk and broth, mixing to avoid lumps until it thickens to your desired consistency, then add in the mushrooms. Add more beef broth little by little if you want to thin it down.

Parboil the French beans and the carrot strips before sauteing them along with the boiled potatoes in two tablespoons butter. After sauteing, arrange them in the baking dish with the reheated beef shanks.

Pour the sauce over the beef shanks and buttered vegetables. Serve immediately. It is best enjoyed with lots of steamed rice.

This recipe serves five, with 530 calories per serving.

If you want to make this dish but don’t have leftover Bulalo, you can boil up to 2 kilos of beef shanks (with enough water to fully over the meat) in a large pot for up to 2 hours or until tender. Or you can cook them in a pressure cooker for up to an hour. Be sure to save the resulting broth.

Also, if you happen to have a sizzling plate, you can make this dish a Sizzling Bulalo Steak. Arrange the cooked solid ingredients on a heated sizzling plate then pour the sauce over them until it sizzles.

Looking for other easy-to-cook dishes to try out while in quarantine? Check out my other recipes:

#QuarantineCookbook: Easy Shepherd’s Pie Recipe

All this extra time spent at home sure gets me in a more adventurous mood in the kitchen.

While Hubby has been flexin’ his culinary muscles and impressin’ the kiddos with outputs such as Beef Stroganoff and my K-pop princess #ExhibitA whipping up some Tteokbokki and Jajangmyeon on the fly, I decided to show ’em a thing or two on how mommy (sometimes!) knows best in the kitchen by preparing Shepherd’s Pie for dinner.

Shepherd’s Pie was first known as cottage pie, which became popular in Europe in the late 1700s around the time when the potato was being introduced as an affordable food crop for the poor, hence the inclusion of “cottage” – which refers to “modest dwelling for rural workers” – in the dish’ name.

It became known as Shepherd’s Pie in the 1800s when mutton or lamb was used as the meat filling.

In the early 1900s, it also adopted the monicker Hachis Parmentier, named after the Frenchman Antoine-Augustine Parmentier who advocated the potato as food source in France and throughout Europe.

Since its down-to-earth beginnings, Shepherd’s Pie has enjoyed worldwide popularity and is included in the menus of many European restaurants.

Well, true to my “no-fuss/no-frills” philosophy when it comes to home cooking, the Shepherd’s Pie I served my fam is quite easy to prepare, with ingredients that are available in many wet markets or grocery stores even during the enhanced community quarantine.

Ingredients:

5 medium potatoes
1/2 cup butter
1 medium onion, rough-chopped
2 medium carrots, diced
1/2 kilo of ground beef
1 beef bouillon cube dissolved in 1/2 cup hot water to make a beef broth
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup grated cheese

Procedure:

Place the potatoes, along with a teaspoon of salt in a medium-sized pot covered by water by at least half an inch. Bring to a boil then lower the heat to a simmer. Cook for twenty minutes or until tender, then remove from the pan.

Melt half of the butter in a pan on medium heat. Saute the onions and carrots in the butter for six to ten minutes or until tender.

Add the ground beef to the carrots and onions, cooking until the beef loses its reddish color. Season with salt and pepper.

Add the Worcestershire sauce and the beef broth. Once the beef mixture reaches a simmer, lower the heat and cook uncovered for 10 minutes.

Mash the cooked potatoes in a bowl. Add in the remaining half of the butter, then season with salt and pepper.

Preheat the oven to 200 deg C. Evenly spread the beef mixture in a large baking dish.

Spread the mashed potatoes over the top of the ground beef. Using a fork, rough up the surface of the mashed potatoes to create peaks that will get browned. You may sprinkle some grated cheese on top of the mashed potatoes.

Place the baking dish in the oven and cook for thirty minutes or until brown and bubbling.

This recipe serves eight at 383 calories per serving.

The dish is a hit with the fam and I look forward to preparing it again. For my next attempt, I’m considering adding some sliced mushrooms.

I would recommend this dish for Sunday brunch with the fam or as a contribution to a potluck party. It’s quite heavy on its own and can go a long way when combined with other dishes.

Looking for other easy-to-cook dishes to try out while in quarantine? Check out my other recipes: