Shepherd’s Pie
Shepherd’s Pie
Shepherd’s pie is often considered a wholesome and satisfying meal, perfect for colder seasons or as a hearty family dinner. It’s versatile and allows for personal twists by incorporating different ingredients or seasonings based on individual preferences.
Shepherd’s pie was one of those meals that takes me back to childhood family memories. It was definitely one of my Mums signature midweek meals. The best version of this Mum made was when we had roast lamb for Sunday lunch. Although we were far from being wealthy, she had an eye for getting the best deal and knew she had to get two meals out of that Lamb. After serving the Sunday lunch, Mum would then strip the Lamb bone of the remaining meat and keep in the fridge for the next meal.
Mum had this old hand-cranked mincer, minced the left-over roast Lamb, and made the best Shepherds I have ever tasted. In my eyes, she is the Goddess of Shepherds Pie. I remember asking Mum after finishing the roast Lamb Sunday lunch, ‘is it Shepherds Pie tomorrow night, Mum?’ “Maybe,” she would reply, the thought of Shepherds pie for Monday dinner was probably the main reason Mondays were not so bad after all.
Shepherd’s pie has its origins in the United Kingdom, particularly in England, Scotland, and Ireland. Its history dates back to the late 1700s or early 1800s. Originally, the dish was created as a practical and economical way to use leftover roasted meat, often lamb or mutton, combined with vegetables and topped with mashed potatoes.
For us mere mortals, this recipe here is a great substitute, but the roasted flavour of the meat is impossible to replace, so if you have that advantage, then I definitely would recommend it.
Shepherd’s pie is a classic dish originating from the United Kingdom, traditionally made with minced or ground lamb or mutton, hence the name “shepherd’s” pie. However, variations often use ground beef (this is named Cottage Pie). It’s a hearty, comforting dish consisting of layers of savoury ingredients.
Shepherd’s pie is often considered a wholesome and satisfying meal, perfect for colder seasons or as a hearty family dinner. It’s versatile and allows for personal twists by incorporating different ingredients or seasonings based on individual preferences.Some recipes add cheese on top of the pie before the final cooking, I have not included it in this recipe but can be an option for you, personally Cheese and Lamb mmmm….the dury is still out.
Shepherd’s Pie
Equipment
- 1 Deep sided fry pan
- 1 Cooks knife
- 1 Pot
- 1 Potato peeler
- 1 Potato masher or ricer
- 1 deep sided baking dish
- 1 Sieve or Colander
- 1 whisk
- 1 Piping bag and Nozzle optional
Materials
For the Lamb filling
- 1 kg Minced Lamb
- 1 each Large Onion
- 2 each Medium sized Carrots
- 2 Cloves Garlic
- 30 gram Tomato's Tinned Use the diced variety I prefer this to tomato puree – any excess reserve for another recipe.
- 1 Sprig Rosemary
- 250 ml Chicken Stock
- 250 ml Red Wine Cabernet Merlot, which I find best for sauces
- 40 ml Worcestershire sauce
- 2 Pinches Salt
For the Mashed Potatoes
- 1 kilo Potatoes Peeled and Cut into Small Chunks
- 150 ml Milk Depending on the type of potatoes and time of year, you may need a little more or less so add gradually.
- 120 gram Butter
- 2 Pinches Salt
- 2 each Egg yolks Reserve the whites for later can be frozen and used for meringues.
Instructions
For the Lamb Filling
- Remove the Lamb mince from your refrigerator and season with salt and pepper, we do not want this to be "Fridge Cold" when we start to cook it.
- Peel and dice the onion as small as you can.
- Peel and dice the Carrots
- Peel the garlic cloves and either squeeze them through a garlic crusher or chop/grate the garlic into small pieces.
- Remove the Rosemary leaves from the stem.
- Chop the Rosemary leaves; this only needs to be rough and quick.
- Next, heat the pan you are cooking in – fry pan that has deep sides is good.
- Add your olive oil and heat gently as the pan is pre-heated the oil will heat quickly.
- add the Onion and garlic and fry untill golden brown
- add your diced carrots and continue cooking
- When the vegetables are golden add the Lamb mince, breaking it up into small pieces as you add to the pan.
- Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, and allowing the Lamb mince to brown all over.
- Add the diced tomatoes and cook until any juice from the tomatoes has evaporated.
- Add the red wine and Worcestershire sauce, turn the heat down on your stove, and simmer until the wine and Worcestershire sauce starts to look like a syrup.
- Add the chicken stock and Rosemary leaves and simmer a little longer – as you simmer, the water content evaporates and the sauce you are building becomes rich, thick, and the flavour concentrates.
- When the sauce has concentrated (known as reduced), we should have an equal amount of sauce and mince. Enough sauce to hold the mince and vegetables together for a delicious, rich filling – taste and adjust the seasoning to your preference.
- Pour into your baking dish and allow to cool.
For the Mashed Potatoe
- Peel and Cut into small chunks.
- Place into a Pot – a large enough Pot, so the potatoes only fill it by ¾ full.
- Add enough water to cover the potatoes, add a pinch of salt place on the stove and bring to the boil.
- Once boiling, turn down the heat so the water simmers and the potatoes gently cook.
- At this time we need to turn on and preheat our oven temperature needed is 190℃ / 380℉.
- THIS PART IS VERY IMPORTANT – For the perfect mash we need to cook to potatoes to the point the potatoes are falling apart – there is a fine line between falling apart and perfect for mashing and the potatoes being overcooked and water-logged (if this happens the potatoes become glue-like and is not good).
- Once cooked, drain the potatoes, return to the pot, and place on the stove on a low heat to dry out the potatoes for about a minute, – if we have cooked them correctly the potatoes should be mashing themselves.
- Turn off the heat and add salt and butter to the potatoes, Mash the potatoes with the potato masher.
- Once mashed swap the masher for a whisk and gradually add the milk to the mashed potato, whisking and mixing in the milk each time you add a little more milk until you have mashed potatoes looking like whipped cream.
- Whisk the egg yolks into the mashed potatoes, this will enrich the mix and help the final colouring of the dish.
- Taste your potatoes to check the seasoning and adjust to your preference.
The final Steps:
- Spread or pipe the potato, covering the Lamb filling
- Bake in the oven for around 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
- And finally serve
Notes
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