As temperatures drop across Australia, Cooking With Coles chef Michael Weldon is helping households embrace comfort food season with two hearty winter favourites.
Joining Sunrise, Weldon will cook up a classic shepherd’s pie and a kimchi mac and cheese, sharing tips for creating delicious make-ahead meals that can be cooked, stored and frozen for later. The recipes also showcase the return of Coles’ popular Curtis Stone glass container collection, designed to help Australians get more from their grocery budget while making meal prep, leftovers and batch cooking easier.
With more Australians cooking at home and preparing meals in advance, Weldon’s comforting winter dishes offer plenty of flavour while demonstrating practical ways to save time in the kitchen.
Mum's Shepherd’s Pie
Ingredients
- 1.5kg lamb mince
- 2 onions, diced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 2 celery sticks, diced
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 4 garlic cloves, sliced
- 4 sprigs rosemary
- 4 sprigs thyme
- 6 anchovy fillets
- 2 tins of tomato
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1/2 bunch parsley
- Sea salt
- Black pepper
- Olive oil
Potato top
- 2kg red royal potatoes, peeled
- 250g butter
- 250g cream
- Sea salt
Method
- In a large saucepan brown the mince in batches until all lightly caramelised. Remove and reserve.
- Add some oil to the pan, cook the onion, carrot and celery with a pinch of sea salt until softened. Add in the tomato paste, garlic, herbs and anchovies. Cook until the anchovies melt and the tomato paste goes a little darker.
- Add in the stock and tinned tomatoes, stir through the mince. Cover and place into a 150°C oven to cook for 2 hours. Once cooked, stir through the peas and a good crack of black pepper.
- In another saucepan boil the potatoes until tender. Then strain and put through a ricer or sieve. Add back into the pan on a low heat and stir in the butter and cream, mix until smooth. Season to taste and allow to cool.
- Add the lamb mince into the large Curtis Stone glassware container. At this stage you can either green the mix and top with the potato layer or top with potato.
- Once topped, cook at 180°C or 160°C if cooking from frozen. Cook until golden on top and the mince mixture is bubbling.
- Serve straight from the glassware container and enjoy. If you’re like me, serve with tomato sauce on the side.
Kimchi Mac n Cheese
Ingredients
- 500g Macaroni
- 50g butter
- 50g plain flour
- 500ml milk
- 200g grated Gruyère
- 200g grated mozzarella
- 100g Parmesan
- 250g kimchi, chopped
- 3 spring onions, sliced
- 50g bread crumbs
- Extra Parmesan
Method
- In a large saucepan melt the butter and add the flour, stir until it splits. Add in the milk in batches, whisking continuously. Once the mixture thickens, whisk until smooth before adding the next batch of milk. Continue until all combined.
- Add the cheese into the béchamel one at a time and stir until smooth. Add in the kimchi and spring onion.
- In a saucepan cook the macaroni for 2 minutes less than advised on the pack.
- Once cooked, add macaroni into the cheese sauce. Mix until combined. Spoon into the Curtis Stone Glassware dish, top with breadcrumbs and extra Parmesan. At this point you can either cook, chill or freeze. This is a great side to prep ahead.
- To cook, place into a 180°C, or 160°C if cooking from frozen, oven and cook until golden on top and the cheese sauce is bubbling.
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