Edwards - Mincespiration!: over 100 budget-friendly, quick and easy family meals with mince

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Pizzas, pasties, curries, cobblers, hotpots, stroganoffs, burgers and pies. Soups, salads, koftas, kebabs, pilafs, moussakas, wraps and melts Mighty mince has long been a handy and budget-friendly standby found in fridges and freezers up and down the country. But theres more to this tasty staple than spag bol and shepherds pie In this, his first collection of easy-to-follow recipes bursting with big flavours, TV chef Dean Edwards takes inspiration from all over the world to whip up super-quick, versatile meals with mince for every day of the week. Chili beef hotpot
Chicken and chorizo burgers
Thai lamb and tomato curry
Sizzling beef pizza
Smokey turkey fajitas
Moroccan meatball tagine Youll never again be left wondering what to cook for dinner List of Recipes TRANSWORLD PUBLISHERS
6163 Uxbridge Road, London W5 5SA
A Random House Group Company
www.transworldbooks.co.uk First published in Great Britain
in 2013 by Bantam Press
an imprint of Transworld Publishers Copyright Dean Edwards 2013 Dean Edwards has asserted his right under the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work. A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Version 1.0 Epub ISBN 9781448152636
ISBN 9780593070864 This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law.

Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the authors and publishers rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly. Addresses for Random House Group Ltd companies outside the UK can be found at: www.randomhouse.co.uk
The Random House Group Ltd Reg. No. 954009 Photography: Martin Poole
Design & art direction: Smith & Gilmour
Editorial: Jinny Johnson
Food styling: Aya Nishimura
Props styling: Tamzin Ferdinando
Proof reading: Elise See Tai
Index: Elizabeth Wiggans 2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1

You may be wondering why Ive chosen to dedicate such a large chunk of my life to an ingredient as humble as mince? The reason is simple passion! I know we hear the P word in every other sentence on television cookery shows, no more so than on Masterchef, where I started my journey in the professional world of food, but I mean it. So many fantastic dishes can be created from ordinary minced beef, lamb, pork, chicken or turkey. You might not often find mince on the menus of high-end restaurants, but it does appear on family dinner tables up and down the country every day, and its one of the most useful ingredients we have in the kitchen.

Like so many people, I grew up eating mince. When I started to think of mince-inspired meals, I quickly realized that the boundaries for inspiration were limitless, hence the title of this book Mincespiration. Ive discovered that every cuisine has ways of making delicious food with economical minced meat. For example, my South African nan used to cook an amazing Malay mince and pea curry I can still taste it now. It was packed with flavour and, best of all, it would feed the whole family with minimum impact on the shopping budget. In fact, one of the many great things about mince is its price. You can make hearty meals that will go a long way for a small outlay.

This also made mince the perfect subject for my first cookbook, as my friends call me the fork and not for cooking reasons. Apparently its because Im tight with money. One friend says that Im so tight that when he came round for a cup of tea Id put a fork in the sugar bowl to make it go further! When I was a child, I used to love watching my dad mincing meat at home to use in a lasagne or curry. For a relatively small sum, you can buy your own mincer and grind up pretty much anything from pork belly for adding fat and flavour to a burger, to more exotic meats such as game and venison. Nowadays, though, most of us buy our minced meat from the supermarket or local butcher. A 500g pack of beef mince can cost as little as 2.50, so I reckon a great many of these dishes will suit even the tightest of budgets, while still delighting the taste buds.

As always, the better the meat the better the dish and I recommend buying the best you can afford for top results. Mince also freezes well so take the opportunity to stock up and youll always have the ingredients for a good meal to hand. As well as using mince, try removing sausages from their skins and, with the help of herbs and spices, transforming the meat into amazing dishes such as an Asian-inspired tom yum soup. Or how about turning chorizo sausage into a fiery topping for a carnivores adaptation of Spanish patatas bravas? I love every one of the recipes in this book, but feel free to switch and swap ingredients to suit your tastes and diet requirements. I believe that some of the best home-cooked meals start with a basic recipe that gradually evolves as you add a few tweaks here and there and make it your own. These are the sorts of recipes that you end up cooking for your family for years to come.

Mince is inexpensive, versatile and, most important of all, delicious. Have fun!

Onions, garlic, shallots, potatoes and other vegetables should always be peeled before preparing, unless otherwise specified. I always use medium eggs in my recipes, and I generally prefer to cook with free-range eggs, but this is up to you. I have specified free-range in recipes where eggs are the stars of the show, such as my beef hash with poached eggs. I usually use olive oil in my cooking and vegetable oil for deep-frying, but go with your personal preference. Chillies can vary a great deal in heat and everyones tolerance to them varies as well.

In some recipes Ive suggested deseeding the chillies, but again its up to you. Lemon grass is becoming much more familiar and is easy to find in supermarkets and greengrocers. Dont be put off its easy to prepare. Simply give a good bash with a rolling pin before using it to release its fragrant oils. Ive tried to keep things as simple and straightforward as possible so you wont need lots of special equipment for making these recipes.

There really is no right or wrong way when it comes to browning mince, but here are a few pointers that might help. There really is no right or wrong way when it comes to browning mince, but here are a few pointers that might help.

One question Im often asked is whether or not to use oil. Ive suggested adding a dash of oil when browning mince, but it really does depend on the quality of the meat. Most of the beef mince you buy in supermarkets and butchers will have a 20 per cent fat to meat ratio so youll probably need a dash of oil to help start the frying process, but a fattier mince may need none at all. I like to get my pan searing hot before adding the oil (if any) and mince. There is nothing worse than letting your mince stew away in its own juices. Avoid overcrowding the pan too, or the mince will stew rather than brown.

I like to start to caramelize my mince so its really lovely and brown, as I think this adds a greater depth of flavour to the finished dish. Youll notice that in many of the recipes I say to chill the meatballs or burgers for 30 minutes before cooking them. This helps the fat set, so once you start cooking, theres less chance that the meatballs or burgers will break up and lose their shape. If you just dont have time, skip this step, but be gentle when cooking your mince.

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