Had a real "Monday from Hell" today all round - and my cooking wasn't much better either...
Didn't know *what* to make today but eventually settled on "cottage pie" i.e. made with ground beef, onions, garlic and veggies then covered in a layer of mashed potatoes and baked in the oven.... I always add lotsa buttah and a bit of cream or milk to my mashed spuds, but not really thinking too clearly, I added far too much buttah this time round. Anyhoo - spread the (far too sloppy) mash over the meat mixture with a fork and it didn't look that bad (at least it didn't "sink"😉 - so I put this lot in the oven for about 30 minutes at 180 Deg C. The mash looked really nice and brown when I took it outta the oven - and I thought "oh, its gonna be okay" - but it could not be called crispy by any stretch of the imagination when I dished it up - sigh. Tasted pretty good tho'. Good thing we didn't have anybody else over for dinner or it would have been a total disaster. -- Cheers Chatty Cathy
Had a real "Monday from Hell" today all round - and my cooking wasn't much better either...
Didn't know *what* to make today but eventually settled on "cottage pie" i.e. made with ground beef, onions, garlic and veggies then covered in a layer of mashed potatoes and baked in the oven.... I always add lotsa buttah and a bit of cream or milk to my mashed spuds, but not really thinking too clearly, I added far too much buttah this time round. Anyhoo - spread the (far too sloppy) mash over the meat mixture with a fork and it didn't look that bad (at least it didn't "sink"😉 - so I put this lot in the oven for about 30 minutes at 180 Deg C. The mash looked really nice and brown when I took it outta the oven - and I thought "oh, its gonna be okay" - but it could not be called crispy by any stretch of the imagination when I dished it up - sigh. Tasted pretty good tho'. Good thing we didn't have anybody else over for dinner or it would have been a total disaster. -- Cheers Chatty Cathy
Keep some dehydrated potato flakes on hand for such disasters. They really aren't bad themselves, and they will readily salvage "real" mashed potatoes that got too much butter or milk. They also are very nice as a coating on deep fried stuff, just dip in batter and roll in potato flakes.
Had a real "Monday from Hell" today all round - and my cooking wasn't much better either...
Didn't know *what* to make today but eventually settled on "cottage pie" i.e. made with ground beef, onions, garlic and veggies then covered in a layer of mashed potatoes and baked in the oven.... I always add lotsa buttah and a bit of cream or milk to my mashed spuds, but not really thinking too clearly, I added far too much buttah this time round. Anyhoo - spread the (far too sloppy) mash over the meat mixture with a fork and it didn't look that bad (at least it didn't "sink"😉 - so I put this lot in the oven for about 30 minutes at 180 Deg C. The mash looked really nice and brown when I took it outta the oven - and I thought "oh, its gonna be okay" - but it could not be called crispy by any stretch of the imagination when I dished it up - sigh. Tasted pretty good tho'. Good thing we didn't have anybody else over for dinner or it would have been a total disaster. -- Cheers Chatty Cathy
Chatty, your dish sounds interesting, minus a bit of the buttah.
Keep some dehydrated potato flakes on hand for such disasters. They really aren't bad themselves, and they will readily salvage "real" mashed potatoes that got too much butter or milk. They also are very nice as a coating on deep fried stuff, just dip in batter and roll in potato flakes.
Pete C.
Great idea, Pete. Also, you can cook a potato in the microwave in about 5-6 minutes, then add it to the mashed potatoes. BTW, having too much butter does not sound so bad to me. LOL
Keep some dehydrated potato flakes on hand for such disasters. They really aren't bad themselves, and they will readily salvage "real" mashed potatoes that got too much butter or milk. They also are very nice as a coating on deep fried stuff, just dip in batter and roll in potato flakes.
Pete C.
Great idea, Pete. Also, you can cook a potato in the microwave in about 5-6 minutes, then add it to the mashed potatoes. BTW, having too much butter does not sound so bad to me. LOL
Becca
Heh. Both good ideas. Didn't have any potato flakes on hand - but I could have done the MW thing with another spud. That's what I like about this place 😉 Thanks
