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Shepherds Pie

makes 8 small or 4 large servings

Get:
  • 1.5lbs ground lamb
  • 1 medium yellow onion, fine-ishly chopped
  • 1 carrot, peeled and chopped into 0.5cm cubes
  • 3 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 2 cups chicken stock
  • 3 tbsp flour
  • 1 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 tbsp wine vinegar
  • butter
  • TBD tsp rosemary, thyme, sage
  • garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper to taste
  • parmesan cheese, shredded
  • 8 ramekins
  • Get stuff for Mashed Potatoes 

Do:
  1. Make Mashed Potatoes (ok to do up to a few hours ahead)
  2. season and sauté the lamb in olive oil, about 6 minutes
  3. drain all liquid into a dish
  4. set ground lamb aside
  5. sauté the carrots first, and then add onions, until tender, about 5 minutes
  6. set vegetables aside
  7. make or mix the stock
  8. stir tomato paste, vinegar, lamb jus, and stock together
  9. toast 3tbsp flour in a pan until toasty
  10. add 3-4tbsp butter and stir into roux
  11. poor stock into the roux, make gravy
  12. reduce until thickened into a sauce, about 1 cup?
  13. combine sauce, lamb, vegetables in a bowl
  14. Spoon mixture into ramekins, leaving about 0.5cm of space at the top (tho it is pretty forgiving)
  15. add 1-2 generous spoonfuls of mashed potatoes on the top
  16. carefully smooth them into a thin even covering with 2 spoons
  17. sprinkle (generously) with parmesan cheese
  18. bake at 400'F for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown, uncovered

Results
  • I didn't measure the spices, I think it ended up being too rosemary-y
  • It doesn't take a ton of mashed potatoes on the top, a 0.5cm layer is fine
  • It was a bit silly to put the lamb in the ramekins first, since the sauce needs to combine. I ended up having to stir each one with a fork anyway
  • The lamb doesn't brown, it releases too much liquid.
  • The gravy was great, make it that way again.
  • Maybe even more parmesan? It didn't burn, it browned nicely.
  • At 425F it doesn't need the whole 30 minutes. Watch it and pull it when it browns.


Elizabeth's slow oven version
  1. stir tomato paste, vinegar, and stock together
  2. stir lamb, veggies, herbs into 13"x9" glass pan
  3. poor stock over, cover, and bake at 275'F for 2 hours
  4. drain liquid, remove fat
  5. using butter + flour, make gravy with broth.  (combine fat and flour first, whip into paste.  add stock after.)
  6. pour gravy back over
  7. cover with mash potatoes
  8. bake at 400'F for 30 minutes, uncovered