SHEPHERDS PIE

BEST EVER RECIPE FOUR GENERATIONS ON...

Soft buttery mashed potatoes with crispy baked peaks and sometimes melted cheese with bubbling erupting pools of rich caramelised lamb stock red wine gravy giving way to succulent braised lamb in red wine and stock with peas and carrots of course, this is truly spoon food of love and comfort to be eaten with family.

Coming home to the smell of a Shepard’s pie baking in the oven just brings a warm smile and a greedy belly to me.  A childhood comfort food for me, my Mum’s, Nan’s and Great Grannies family recipe and now mine, I’m sure each generation has tinkered ever so slightly with the recipe, I know my mum added homemade lamb bone stock for the gravy and for me it’s the addition of red wine and often left over slow roasted shoulder of lamb instead of mince.

Prep time 10 minutes / Slow cooking 1-2 hrs (optional) / Baking time 40 minutes

Ingredients 

(serves 4-6)

1 kg left over roast lamb chopped pea size or butchers lamb mince

(if using leftover Sunday roast lamb also use the left over gravy)

1 glug olive oil

1 tbs butter

1 onion finely diced

1 clove garlic finely diced

2 large carrots peeled and finely diced
1 cup of petit pois peas

500ml lamb or beef stock

250ml good drinking red wine

2 tbsp tomato ketchup

3 good glugs Worcestershire sauce

Himalayan sea salt 

Fresh ground black pepper 

Best Mashed Potatoes Ever

2 kg Maris pipers or Albert Rooster peeled and halved

300-400g butter room temperature 

200ml double cream

1/2 tsp white pepper

1 tsp Himalayan sea salt

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

Place the potatoes in a large saucepan with cold water and a good pinch of salt, bring to a boil and simmer until cooked all the way through.  The reason for starting the potatoes cooking in cold water is because potatoes are dense if you place them in boiling water the outsides cook quicker than the centre resulting in a wetter mash.

Drain and leave to steam for five minutes, then push through a potato ricer for the best results or mash with a potato masher, stir in the soft butter, cream, vinegar and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Meanwhile while the potatoes are boiling, heat a large saucepan medium hot, add the olive oil and butter and soften the onions, garlic and carrots for around 10 minutes until some caramelisation is on the carrots, add the left over roast lamb and let this also caramelise a little too, if using lamb mince brown this off well.

Add the red wine and allow to bubble away slightly reducing, add the stock, tomato ketchup and Worcestershire sauce and any left over roast gravy, simmer until you have a medium thick sauce, I like to make a loose soup sauce and leave to simmer slowly for around 1 1/2 hours to intensify the flavours.

Add the peas, season to taste and place the Shepard’s pie mix in a baking dish, top with the mash, fluff up the top by dragging a fork through the mash to create lovely crispy bits of baked mashed potato.  If you like grate over some mature cheese, Parmesan or Gruyere cheese.

Bake in a preheated oven 180 C / 356 F until golden and hot in the centre, around 40 minutes and enjoy.