← Nouns Cooking · American

Ingredients

• 50 g Butter
• 500 g Minced beef
• 1 Onion, diced
• 1 Carrot, diced
• 1 celery stick, diced
• 250 g button mushrooms, chopped
• 2 cloves Garlic, chopped
• 45 g plain flour
• 500 ml whole milk
• 250 ml Beef stock
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1½ tsp Salt
• ¾ tsp Black pepper
• 250 g frozen peas, corn and/or green beans
• 100 g Cheddar, grated
• 750 g Frozen potato tots (tater tots)
• 2 tbsp Parsley, chopped (optional)

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200°C (400°F) and butter a 23 × 33 cm baking dish.
2. Brown the beef in a large deep frying pan over medium-high heat for 6–8 min, breaking it up, then spoon it into a bowl and pour off most of the fat.
3. Melt the butter in the same pan over medium heat. Cook the onion, carrot, celery and mushrooms for 8–10 min, until soft and the mushroom juices have cooked away, then add the garlic for 1 minute.
4. Sprinkle in the flour and stir for 1 minute. Gradually stir in the milk and stock and simmer for 3–4 min, stirring, until thick and creamy. Season with the Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper.
5. Stir the beef and frozen vegetables into the sauce and spread it in the dish. Scatter over the cheddar, then line up the frozen tots snugly on top in rows.
6. Bake for 35–40 min, until the tots are deep golden and crisp and the filling bubbles at the edges. Rest for 10 min and scatter with parsley before serving.

Tips

• Make it ahead up to the tots, chill, then add the tots and bake for 10 minutes longer.
• Worcestershire sauce contains anchovies.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Bon Appétit BBC Good Food Spend With Pennies