Shepherd’s Pie is always made with lamb. You can use beef, but then you have made a cottage pie.
We Brits are fond of our comfort foods, and none are more comforting than pies. This pie is unusual in that it involves no pastry, only a creamy layer of potatoes. Like many British dishes, it developed as a way to use leftovers from a Sunday lunch — in this case, roast lamb. These days, shepherd’s pie is commonly made using ground lamb. A shepherd’s pie is always made with lamb and is not to be confused with cottage pie, which is made with ground beef.
Follow this link to enjoy a lovely video showing you how to make it…
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs ground lamb
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 3 carrots, peeled and diced
- 1 cup frozen peas, thawed
- 1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
- 1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
- 1 1/4 cup beef stock
- 1/4 cup red wine
- 1/2 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 lbs potatoes
- unsalted butter
- milk or half-and-half
- salt and pepper
Instructions
Prepare mashed potato topping:
- Peel potatoes and cut into chunks. Bring a pot of water to boil and boil potatoes until they are soft and easily pierced with a fork, approximately 20 minutes. Drain potatoes in a colander and return to pot. Mash potatoes, adding salt, butter, and milk/half-and-half to taste.
Prepare filling:
- Heat vegetable oil in large saucepan over medium high heat.
- Brown lamb in oil, then remove from heat, drain, and keep covered.
- Sauté carrot and onion until tender, then return lamb to pan.
- Add chopped herbs and salt and pepper to taste.
- Sprinkle the mixture with flour and mix until incorporated, then add Worcestershire sauce, red, wine, beef stock and tomato paste.
- Stir until sauce begins to thicken and comes to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add peas and stir to combine.
Assemble:
- Preheat oven to 400℉
- Spoon filling into an 11x17” baking dish and top with mashed potato, spreading evenly so that the the potato completely covers the filling.
- Using the back of a fork, create score lines in in the mashed potato, as if you are drawing a tic-tac-toe grid.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until topping has begun to brown.
- Place shepherd’s pie directly under broiler for an additional 10 minutes to give the potato added crisp and color.
- Serve with HP sauce.
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This shepherds pie is like our famous bobotie. We South Africans are not so different from you Brits after all!
Yes. Also similar to the Greek dish, moussaka. By the way, are you THE Thabo Mbeki, former President of South Africa?