Shepherd’s Pie Where did it come from?
From what I have read Shepherd’s Pie is Irish, it has been and still is a staple of traditional food. The big conversation in the chats is that if you use beef or veal it is called Cottage Pie, so if your not going to be using lamb then try to call it by its other name and show off your cooking knowledge at the dinner table.
There are two thing that you have to make here. 1. is the topping. 2. Is the meat and vegetable filling.Take your time and it will turn out great.
Ingredients
- Potatoe Part:
- 1/4 cup half-and-half
- 2 ounces unsalted butter
- 3/4 teaspoon salt (kosher)
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon sour cream
- Meat and Filling Section
- 2 tablespoons canola oil or olive oil
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 2 carrots, peeled and diced small
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 pounds ground Lamb or Beef
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons tomato paste
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons freshly chopped rosemary leaves
- 1 teaspoon freshly chopped thyme leaves
- 1/2 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
- 1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas
Instructions
To make this dish you need to mash cooked potatoes into mashed potatoes or use instant mashed potatoes. Most people prefer making their own mashed potatoes. We will go with the assumption that you know how to boil a potato if not a boiled potato if not we give you lesson on that later.
To make the best mashed potatoes do this …. Melt the butter and warm the half and half, drain the potatoes after they are cooked add the butter and half and half, salt and pepper and mash until smooth, stir in the egg yolk for added color.
While you potatoes are cooking you can work on the fillings for the Shepherd’s pie.
in a saute pan set to medium high heat put a little canola oil or olive oil (I prefer olive oil)
Add the onion the carrots and saute them to where they just changing color which takes about three or four minutes.
Add the garlic and stir to combine in the frying pan
Add the Lamb, salt and pepper and cook until browned that’s the meat Browned and cook thoroughly approximately 3 minutes.
Take the meat out and sprinkle with flour and toss it to coat it.
Return the meat to the sauté pan and cook for another minute,
Add the tomato paste chicken broth the Thyme, Rosemary, Worcestershire Sauce. Stir to combine, turn the heat up and bring to a boil after it is boiling reduce the heat to low and cover to simmer slowly until the sauce is thickened slightly.
This should only take 10 to 15 minutes to simmer like this.
Add the corn and peas to the meat mixture and spread evenly into a 11 x 7 glass baking dish.
With the mashed potatoes start around the edge to create a seal to help prevent the mixture from bubbling up, smooth you potatoes out with a spatula.
I like to place items like this on either parchment paper or aluminum foil on my baking sheet just in case it boils over it makes cleanup so much easier.
Place in the oven and bake for 25 minutes or until the potatoes begin to brown.
Remove to a cooling rack and let sit for about 15 minutes before serving.
To make your potatoes lighter try whipping them to make them a bit fluffier so they are not so heavy.