Right back to basics this week with traditional Scottish Mince, Neeps n’ Tatties, a family
favourite and one which can be forgotten about in amongst all of the modern culinary
fashion foods. NTM it’s easy to forget when you have been cooking for years, that not
everybody knows how to make what used to be everyday staples.
Mince
burst
dav
Ingredients
- 350g Mince.
- 1 large Onions chopped.
- 2 large Carrots diced.
- Diced Turnip = to the amount of carrot.
- 1 Stock cube. (I use beef optional)
- enough water to cover the mince etc approx 300mls
- ½tsp Cornflour.
- 2tsps Bisto Gravy Powder.
- Salt and Pepper to taste.
Method
- Heat a little oil in a large pot and fry the Onion until soft.
- Add the Mince and fry until brown.
- Add your Carrot and Turnip.
- Dissolve you stock cube in 300mls of boiling water.
- Add stock to the mince and bring to the boil.
- Simmer for 30mins or until your veg is soft.
- In a cup mix, 2tsp of Bisto and 1 tsp cornflour with a little water.
- Remove pot from the heat and slowly add your Bisto mix in, stirring all the time.
- If you gravy is too thick add some more water.
- Bring back to the boil, add salt and Pepper to taste and serve.
Top tip: if you like your mince dark add a little dark Soy Sauce to your gravy.
Serve with mashed potato and mashed neeps.
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perfect mince though I usually give it 40 mins cooking to make sure the veg are soft and use diced potato rather than turnip. Because turnip together with the carrots can give a “sweetish” flavour.!
You can also add a parsnip, if you feel like it or instead of one of the carrots.
It’s a good balanced meal – meat +veg+potatoes and neeps
PS What are neeps? turnips?Swedes?
Neeps are Turnips, turnips in Scotland are the great big beasts with yellow flesh, not the wee rounds ones with white flesh, those we call swede, I believe it’s the same in Cornwall but not in parts of England, there they are the opposite way around. H
Once again – even though I don’t eat meat – that looks so good, I want to eat it!
It just looks so …nourishing and luscious. Perfect Harvest Home fare.
Irish turnips have a more orange-coloured flesh – I suppose that depends on the differences in the soil or climate!
Yip that’s our neeps too, once they’ve had a touch of hard frost there colour darkens, yum yum.
Nothing better than boiled turnips that are mashed with butter!
In Italy they only eat turnip leaves (green sprouts on the top of the veg).
They cook them like spinach – boiled with a clove of garlic, tossed with a vinaigrette. Served like spinach. They call them “rapi”
Never been much of a spinach person but it always intrigues me how others use the bits we throw away or in this house give to wee animals.
Oh my goodness I loved this! I’m Canadian and my mum was a Scottish war bride, brought to Canada by my dad, who met her in Glasgow during the war. My favourite dish was mum’s Mince and Tatties! She cooked it very differently than you, she actually added the cooked cubed potatoes and turnip to the mince, not served on the side. It was sort of like a stew. My hubby did not like it when I made it her way for him, I am going to try it the way you make it and I am sure he will like it. I am going to make it tomorrow night for supper. Thanks so much for taking me back to my childhood and hearing you speak like my mum.
Awe, you are most welcome, I have tears in my eyes reading your comment. I do hope it worked for you and that both you and hubby enjoyed it. Hx
Loved seeing this recipe. My mum was from Scotland and immigrated to Canada when she was 17 then moved to the States at 20 when she married my dad. She made this for us when we were kids. I lost my mum about 20 years ago, before I thought about learning all of her recipes from the Old Country. So appreciate you posting this here. I will give it a try soon. Thank you!