There are few dishes that reward patience quite like a traditional shepherd’s pie. This slow-cooked lamb version is stripped back to its essentials — two days, one pot, and a handful of good ingredients that build quietly into something remarkable.

Often, shepherd’s pie was a way to use up leftover roast lamb — simple, thrifty cooking at its best. In this case, we’ve gone all in from the start, braising lamb shanks for depth and richness. Both approaches are preferable to the shortcut of mince, which can never quite replicate the texture or flavour of true slow-cooked lamb.

The dish has its roots in the rural kitchens of the British Isles in the late 18th century, when the potato became a staple and leftover meat needed a second life. Whether from England, Scotland or Ireland, the idea was the same: nothing wasted, everything transformed — and few comfort foods speak so directly to home cooking.

I made this during a rare weekend off from coaching girls football, be assured, this Shepherd’s Pie is incredible but not nearly as good as my football team!

The post Thirty-Hour Shepherd’s Pie | Recipe appeared first on National Dish.

I’ve been dying to make Pink Grapefruit Gin, I think the colour would be attractive and relate completely to the flavour – Pink Grapefruit is a real treat just as grapefruit.

As with all our Gin recipes, you need to sterilise everything thoroughly, I mean it – don’t piss about here, you could be wasting good Gin.

This is easy to prep and nurture.

The post How do you make Pink Grapefruit Gin | National Dish Recipe appeared first on National Dish.

We like infusing our own Gin and have a growing number of flavours. Fennel Gin is a bit of a surprise – I wasn’t sure how it would turn out – it’s real good, it’s vegan and is a subtle version of Sambuca.

Unlike fruit based Gin infusions, which you would leave for 3 months, fennel needs to be rather quick, cause it goes brown…fear not, we made a recipe, so you’ll be fine.

Our Plum Gin – which is a thing to behold, was created in a very large Kilner Jar, I’ve moved down to 1 litre jars – I can then make more than one at the same time.

The post How do you make Fennel Gin? | National Dish Recipe | Gin Infusion appeared first on National Dish.

Some people find roasting and cooking beef a real challenge, ending up with a disappointingly tough result, especially a beef brisket.

All that is usually missing though, is a little patience and foresight.

Brisket is a cheap (although annoyingly, that is changing) cut of meat from the lower front chest of the cow, just above the front legs – so it gets worked hard and is therefore naturally tough.

Cook it right though and something miraculous happens.

The post Cook the perfect Beef Brisket and pull it with a fork | National Dish Recipe appeared first on National Dish.

It’s getting cold, although you could be reading this when it’s warm, doesn’t matter, this recipe is well fun. The kids and their buddies will love you for this, plus it will get them eating more fruit. It’s really easy. By the way, you need to slice a watermelon so make sure you have a sharp knife – believe it or not, that’s dangerous – so don’t let the kids have it!

The post Have an indoor fruit BBQ for the kids | National Dish Fun Recipe appeared first on National Dish.

The time of year is late August and my two Plum tree varieties – Mirebelle and Victoria are ready to harvest.

I could make Jam but that means eating bread and that ain’t gonna happen. So I’m making Gin!

How do you make Plum Gin? This recipe will have it ready for Christmas.

The post How do you make Plum Gin? | English Plum Gin | National Dish of England appeared first on National Dish.

Poussin is a french word used exactly the same in English, which does not necessarily make this a french dish, so I have credited both countries. But – how do you cook Poussin?

Also known as Spring Chicken, Poussin basically means ‘young chicken’, which is less than 28 days old and half a kilo.

My two beauties are corn fed and were acquired from Fortnum and Mason in Piccadilly, London – raaahhhh.

The post How do you cook Poussin? | Corn fed spatchcock Poussin with fennel | National Dish Recipe appeared first on National Dish.

– we’re not 100% sure where this dish might originate.

I accidentally made it up, but that’s not to say it doesn’t exist. So in actual fact this could be a South East Asian ‘influenced’ English dish – Changlo food! You saw it here first.

Anyway, I fancied sweet and sour chicken, but wanted to add lots of chilli and forgot to buy pineapple, so used some mango I had – hence…

It’s really good – I also knocked up a cheats Mushroom Chow Mein on the side.

The post Sweet and Sour Chilli Mango Chicken | National Dish Recipe from South East Asia…maybe appeared first on National Dish.

Roasted flap of lamb doesn’t sound particularly appetising, but it is stunning. A shoulder of lamb is a fine cut, but when you buy it de-boned and rolled, it looks gross and would fool anyone in to thinking it’s a shit cut….wrong.

Cooking it in it’s rolled state is fine, but unroll it, turning it in to a flap and when you slow cook it, good things happen.

My baby bro loves this and asked me for the recipe, here it is buddy…

The post Roasted flap of Lamb with rosemary and garlic | National Dish Recipe of a boned rolled shoulder of lamb appeared first on National Dish.

A British favourite – homemade lemonade, Mary Berry I am sure has made a fair bit of this.

I had to post this one as I made it with the kids, they wanted to sell it in our village for and raise money for our village panto that supports a local children’s charity – The James Hopkins Trust

It’s very easy, but…it does contain a fair amount of sugar AND you’ll wanna stick gin in it…so not super healthy, fun though.

The post How do you make homemade lemonade? | National Dish of England appeared first on National Dish.