My Mum and I made this one a few days ago. It has a casserole feel to it and I took it straight out of recipes+ food magazine, one of the 2 great food magazines available in Australia. The focus of these magazines are easy, delicious and economical dishes. You have the beans and mince as a base for the spinach 'cobblers', which are a substitute for bread.
INGREDIENTS
80g rindless bacon, trimmed & finely chopped
Cooking oil spray
1 medium brown onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
450g extra lean lamb mince
400g can diced tomatoes
1 cup chicken stock
400g can red kidney beans, rinsed
THE COBBLERS
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 cup plain flour
250g chopped frozen spinach, thawed with excess liquid removed
1/4 cup chopped parsley
3/4 cup milk
50g margarine, melted & cooled
1. Preheat oven to 200 C. Grease an ovenproof dish.
2. Spray bacon with oil.* Heat a large frying pan over moderate heat. Cook and stir bacon and onion for 3 minutes. Add garlic; cook and stir for 30 seconds.
3. Add mince; cook, stirring with a wooden spoon to break up lumps for 5 minutes or until brown. Stir in tomato and stock. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat; simmer, stirring occasionally, for
15 minutes or until sauce thickens. Stir in beans. Spoon into prepared dish.
THE COBBLERS
4. Sift flours into a medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in spinach and parsley. Make a well in the centre. Pour in milk and margarine. Stir with a round bladed knife to form a soft dough. Using 2 tablespoons at a time, roll dough into balls.# Flatten slightly then place over mince mixture. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden.^
INGREDIENTS
80g rindless bacon, trimmed & finely chopped
Cooking oil spray
1 medium brown onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
450g extra lean lamb mince
400g can diced tomatoes
1 cup chicken stock
400g can red kidney beans, rinsed
THE COBBLERS
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 cup plain flour
250g chopped frozen spinach, thawed with excess liquid removed
1/4 cup chopped parsley
3/4 cup milk
50g margarine, melted & cooled
1. Preheat oven to 200 C. Grease an ovenproof dish.
2. Spray bacon with oil.* Heat a large frying pan over moderate heat. Cook and stir bacon and onion for 3 minutes. Add garlic; cook and stir for 30 seconds.
3. Add mince; cook, stirring with a wooden spoon to break up lumps for 5 minutes or until brown. Stir in tomato and stock. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat; simmer, stirring occasionally, for
15 minutes or until sauce thickens. Stir in beans. Spoon into prepared dish.
THE COBBLERS
4. Sift flours into a medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in spinach and parsley. Make a well in the centre. Pour in milk and margarine. Stir with a round bladed knife to form a soft dough. Using 2 tablespoons at a time, roll dough into balls.# Flatten slightly then place over mince mixture. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden.^
That was how the recipe told us how to do it and we pretty much followed it. But this is what we discovered while we were making them:
*Usually cooking spray is used on the dishes or utensils and not on the food. But in this case, spraying the food itself as opposed to the pan is a way to reduce the fat content. Makes sense, as when I use spray on the pans, there always seems to be an excess of oil on the corners of the dish. Just don't go overboard - it is oil after all, despite coming in spray form!
#I was in charge of making the cobblers while Mum did the base. I found that using 2 tablespoons worth of dough mixture was way too much. As it has self-raising flour, they will expand and become bigger in the oven. 1 tablespoon was enough.
^All ovens are different, obviously! I had to keep mine for around 40 minutes in the oven, even though my one is very new and strong. The reason was the cobblers. I made them quite thick and big - even just using 1 tablespoon of the mixture to make the balls. So next time, it would be easier to make the balls smaller. The base only requires 25 minutes of baking, but it all comes down to the cobblers, to make sure that they are cooked on the inside. Remember, it is a bread substitute, so they have to be well cooked.
We served ourselves straight away. It was a very filling and hearty meal, perfect for Winter and also a slim alternative to other traditional heavy casseroles. Having 2 servings does fill you up - you probably only need 1. The beans and mince base was full of flavour - reminiscent of chili (which I will post up soon). The spinach cobblers make this a heavy dish - instead of using bread to scoop up - as traditional Italian cuisine dictates - you have the cobblers. Next time I would make them smaller, like kaiser rolls. The cobblers are dominant, so by making them smaller, you can actually enjoy the bean and lamb base a bit more.
They are great for leftovers too (or 'cudin', as my friend calls it. What you 'cudin' eat today, you can eat tomorrow! FYI: In Spanish, directly translated, it would be 'pudi'!) Mum overindulged a bit, particularly on the spinach cobblers and found that they were too heavy. So next time: smaller cobblers and only one serve in one meal. It would have also been nice if there was more of the bean base. Perhaps that is why the spinach cobbler was such a dominant presence in the recipe. Adding more beans would even up the balance.
Overall, it was a great, tasty and easy casserole to make. Next time I will make those changes and let you know how I went with it.
We made this a few days ago, so Mum and I had 'cudin' for a few days. We still had some vegie soup until Mum finished the last lot yesterday. And we still have the cobbler, which Mum has told me that it's all mine!
We have our mini menu set up for the next few days. Tomorrow is Shepherd's Pie. Saturday is home made pizza with potato wedges as a snack. Sunday is chili day - which was a suggestion by my boyfriend. He also wanted me to include dessert - 'Oaties', as he calls them. So we've got a lot to look forward to.
*Usually cooking spray is used on the dishes or utensils and not on the food. But in this case, spraying the food itself as opposed to the pan is a way to reduce the fat content. Makes sense, as when I use spray on the pans, there always seems to be an excess of oil on the corners of the dish. Just don't go overboard - it is oil after all, despite coming in spray form!
#I was in charge of making the cobblers while Mum did the base. I found that using 2 tablespoons worth of dough mixture was way too much. As it has self-raising flour, they will expand and become bigger in the oven. 1 tablespoon was enough.
^All ovens are different, obviously! I had to keep mine for around 40 minutes in the oven, even though my one is very new and strong. The reason was the cobblers. I made them quite thick and big - even just using 1 tablespoon of the mixture to make the balls. So next time, it would be easier to make the balls smaller. The base only requires 25 minutes of baking, but it all comes down to the cobblers, to make sure that they are cooked on the inside. Remember, it is a bread substitute, so they have to be well cooked.
We served ourselves straight away. It was a very filling and hearty meal, perfect for Winter and also a slim alternative to other traditional heavy casseroles. Having 2 servings does fill you up - you probably only need 1. The beans and mince base was full of flavour - reminiscent of chili (which I will post up soon). The spinach cobblers make this a heavy dish - instead of using bread to scoop up - as traditional Italian cuisine dictates - you have the cobblers. Next time I would make them smaller, like kaiser rolls. The cobblers are dominant, so by making them smaller, you can actually enjoy the bean and lamb base a bit more.
They are great for leftovers too (or 'cudin', as my friend calls it. What you 'cudin' eat today, you can eat tomorrow! FYI: In Spanish, directly translated, it would be 'pudi'!) Mum overindulged a bit, particularly on the spinach cobblers and found that they were too heavy. So next time: smaller cobblers and only one serve in one meal. It would have also been nice if there was more of the bean base. Perhaps that is why the spinach cobbler was such a dominant presence in the recipe. Adding more beans would even up the balance.
Overall, it was a great, tasty and easy casserole to make. Next time I will make those changes and let you know how I went with it.
We made this a few days ago, so Mum and I had 'cudin' for a few days. We still had some vegie soup until Mum finished the last lot yesterday. And we still have the cobbler, which Mum has told me that it's all mine!
We have our mini menu set up for the next few days. Tomorrow is Shepherd's Pie. Saturday is home made pizza with potato wedges as a snack. Sunday is chili day - which was a suggestion by my boyfriend. He also wanted me to include dessert - 'Oaties', as he calls them. So we've got a lot to look forward to.
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