Shepherds Pie
A Shepherds Pie is made with lamb or beef mince, or leftovers, cooked with some vegetables and gravy, topped with creamy mashed potato and cheese, and baked till the top is golden brown and bubbling. The correct name when made with beef, instead of lamb, is cottage pie. But most people just call it Shepherds Pie. Or at least I do.
I love it. And since I had some leftovers from a slow roast lamb dish, I decided to make a Shepherd’s Pie the traditional way, with leftover lamb. But you can use beef or lamb mince. This also works well substituting Puy lentils for the meat. You can also beef up the meat filling with mushrooms, if you choose.
This is a simple and versatile dish. Which is why I have so many versions of it on twimii. I don’t think of Shepherds Pies as having a definitive taste or a set recipe. They’re a savoury saucy filling topped with potato and cheese or some type of dairy. Just a yummy, and budget-friendly, dish of comfort.
Ingredients
- ~300 - 400g thinly chopped or minced lamb or beef, or leftovers chopped up small
- 2 medium-sized onions, chopped
- 2 carrots, diced
- 2 celery sticks, sliced
- 1 large garlic clove, sliced
- 1 tsp Herbes de Provence, or some dried rosemary & thyme
- ~250ml of gravy made with instant gluten-free gravy granules, according instructions
- 100ml red wine
- 1 tsp tomato puree
- ¼ tsp Harissa or a pinch of Cayenne pepper, optional
- ½ tbsp Dijon Mustard
- ~8 medium-sized potatoes
- milk
- butter
- ~60g cheddar cheese, grated
- salt & freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Heat a little oil in a pan. Add the onions, carrots and celery to the pot with a pinch of salt, pepper and the Herbes de Provence. Give them a good stir, then reduce the heat to gentle-moderate, cover the pan and let the vegetables sweat for 10 minutes or until they start to get tender. Turn the heat on high and stir the meat in well. If you are using mince rather than cooked leftovers, stir and cook the mince until it has all turned brown and there are no pink bits left. Stir in the gravy, wine, mustard and tomato puree. If you like a little bit of spice in your gravy add in some Harissa spice mix or Cayenne pepper. Bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to gentle and leave to quietly simmer while you make the mashed potatoes.
- Peel and slice the potatoes. Place in a saucepan and fill with water until the potato slices are just covered with water. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat to moderate so that they boil gently away for 10 minutes or so, or until a fork passes through the slices with no resistance. Turn off the heat. Drain the water from the pot. Add a good splash of milk and a knob of butter. Mash to a smooth consistency. Add more milk and/or butter as necessary. Sprinkle in salt and freshly ground black pepper. Taste and add more salt if necessary.
- Turn the oven on to 180° C. Turn off the heat under the pan with the meat filling. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Transfer the meat filling from the pan into a pie dish. Layer over the mashed potato and sprinkle the grated cheese on top. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown and bubbling.
