Savoury Mince Recipe

Serves 4

“Savoury mince with hot potatoes brings me back to happy times and adventures with Aiden Prendergast (or Ned, as we affectionately called him) and all the 5th Kildare Scouts. It was one of the go-to meals for camps in places like Larch Hill and Lough Dan and it’s what we would cook for competitions like the regional Shield and the all-Ireland Melvin. That is, until I became quartermaster and cook for the Hawk Patrol and convinced my mum to teach me how to make beef stroganoff, but I digress.” Graham Herterich

Ingredients

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 medium onion, finely diced

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

500g beef mince

2 carrots, finely diced

1 celery stick, finely diced

2 tbsp tomato purée

1 tbsp plain flour

400ml beef stock

A good splash of Worcestershire sauce

2 bay leaves

1 tsp dried mixed herbs

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

100g frozen peas

To serve:

Mashed potatoes

To garnish:

Chopped fresh curly parsley (optional)

Instructions

Heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 8 minutes before adding the garlic and cooking for another 2 minutes.

Turn up the heat and add the beef mince. Break it up with a spoon but don’t overmix or break it up too much – try to keep some texture. Allow it to get some colour before stirring it to brown all over. This will take 8–10 minutes.

Add the carrots and celery and cook for 2 minutes. Add the tomato purée and flour and cook for another 2 minutes, then stir in the stock, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves and dried mixed herbs and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the peas and cook for a final 5 minutes, adding a dash of water if it looks too dry.

Serve with lots of buttery mash on the side and garnish with chopped fresh curly parsley if you like.