When we first met in pregnancy yoga, it was common practice to take a meal over to your new mom friends when they gave birth. We’d cook something nutritious for our friends to help with the early days of motherhood; you’re hungry, sometimes in pain, can’t find time to cook and juggling an extra mouth to feed. More recently we have had family and friends battling illness, recuperating after surgery or just going through a difficult period. In these cases our community of friends have organized meal trains; delicious meals, cooked with love, to help our friends when they need a helping hand.
We have found the Meal Train website is the easiest to use, but feel free to share other sites you like that have worked for you. Meal Train is great because you can select a number of dates for meals to be delivered, and indicate if the family is vegetarian, has allergies or just doesn’t like certain foods etc. You ask people to sign up, they can then select dates to bring meals and what they will be cooking.
Often the person who is undergoing a medical procedure may have a specific or limited diet, but the rest of the family doesn’t, so sometimes you need to be creative. The more people you include in the Meal Train, the easier it is for everyone. Put your heart and soul into making a delicious meal!
One of my favorite dishes to make for a meal train is Shepherd’s Pie. I grew up in England and I love shepherd’s pie and my family does too, so I’ll make a double batch and dinner is done for me too. It is a favorite because you can make it the day before. You can cook it so that’s it’s ready to eat, or you can leave it with instructions to bake in the oven for 40 minutes. And if they don’t want to eat it that day for some reason, it can go in the fridge for a couple days and be cooked later. It also makes great leftovers.
Brown lamb in a heavy bottomed pan.
Browning the onions and carrots
I used ground lamb for this Shepherd’s Pie
Spread the mashed potatoes carefully over the lamb and it’s ready to cook.
I also like how versatile it is as it can be made with lamb, beef (technically a cottage pie) or a meat substitute. What could be better! I prefer to make it with lamb but if you can’t find ground lamb, it’s delicious with beef. Buy a bag or clam of pre-washed lettuce and make some salad dressing, throw in some cookies or fruit for dessert and you have a perfect meal. Some flowers and a little menu card are also a nice touch.
Get ready to mash some potatoes!
Shepherd’s Pie
serves 6-8
Ingredients
2 lb potatoes
1/2-1 cup milk
1/2 stick butter
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 garlic cloves minced
2 lb ground lamb or beef
1 medium onion finely diced
2 medium carrots finely diced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon finely chopped rosemary
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
4 teaspoons flour
1/2 cup red or white wine
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350º
Peel the potatoes and put them in a large saucepan of salted water. Cover and bring to a boil. Cook until fork tender. Drain the potatoes and if you have a ricer, rice them. Put the riced potatoes back in the saucepan add 1/2 stick butter and 1/4 cup of milk and mash. If the potaotes are still dry add remaining milk. Set potatoes aside. If you don’t have a ricer just mash potatoes with the milk and butter until they are fairly smooth.
Put the olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan or skillet. Add the garlic and lamb season with salt and pepper and cook stirring until the lamb is browned. Stir in 1 tablespoon tomato paste. After a minute add rosemary, Worcestershire sauce and sprinkle with 2 teaspoons of flour. Stir and cook for a few minutes. Set lamb aside using a slotted spoon.
Pour excess fat out of pan leaving approximately 1 tablespoon. Add onion and carrot to the pan and cook until soft about 5-7 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining 2 teaspoons of flour. Add the wine and scrape up any brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Cook for another 5 minutes.
Add the lamb mixture and cook for another couple minutes until lamb is in a thickened sauce.
Butter a 9×13 dish. Spread the lamb mixture evenly on the bottom of the dish. Carefully cover the lamb with the mashed potato. I like to put 9 dollops on top and then spread with a spatula. Put 9 very thin slices of butter on top of the potato and pop in the oven for 40 minutes until you see a few nice crunchy brown bits of potato.
Remove from the oven and let rest 5 minutes and serve.
Notes
If you are up to the task, it is best with some gravy! But I also serve plain, or with Worcestershire sauce on the side. Best with a nice crisp salad.
