Since the mid 1800s, people have been enjoying minced meat and vegetables covered with mashed potatoes and baked into a hearty meal after a long day's work out in the fields with their livestock. While origin stories vary as much as the fillings and ingredients themselves, Shepherd's Pie is a classic meal everyone can enjoy. I will warn you, however, it is not a simple and quick thrown-together, last-minute kind of meal. This one, folks, takes a bit of preparation and work, but will reward your tastebuds in the end. Stick around and learn how to make a mashed potato topping, the best lamb and veggie filling, and then bake it to perfection....Let's Get Cooking!
There are essentially three parts to this Shepherd's Pie recipe: the topping, the filling, and the final baked product. We will start with the mashed potato topping. Now I personally have a couple different options for this already typed up so if you want to check out the Ultimate Mashed Potatoes or Slow Cooker Garlic Mashed Potatoes blogs by all means be my guest. Otherwise, I will quickly cover a version of the Ultimate Mashed Potatoes with a few tweaks to make them perfect for this recipe. Begin by peeling and quartering the potatoes. Be sure to place them in a bowl of cold water as you work to prevent them from turning brown. Once you have all the potatoes prepared, add them to a pot and cover them with chicken stock or cold water.
Boil the potatoes for about 30-35 minutes until softened. Drain any excess liquids and return the potatoes to the same pot. Add the cream cheese, butter, and some heavy cream/milk to the pot and mash the potatoes using a potato masher. If you don't happen to have a potato masher, you can simply add all the ingredients to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. The potatoes are creamy and delicious as is, but of course we are not quite done yet. Add some fresh minced garlic and salt/pepper to give them that little extra boost of flavor. You could also use some garlic salt here as well if you really want to fortify those flavors!
Once you are happy with your mashed potato topping, simply cover the pot with a lid and set them aside for now. They don't need to be on a burner, but we want to try and keep them fairly warm to spread later on. With that being said, we can now move on to the filling itself. My Shepherd's Pie recipe calls for ground lamb. Yes, I realize some people may not enjoy lamb or might not even be able to buy it depending on where you live so if that is the case simply substitute ground beef. However, it is called Shepherd's Pie....you know, after those guys that herd sheep, so I firmly believe you should use lamb! I had a leg of lamb on hand so I decided to freshly grind it up and portion it out into a few different future meals. Anyway, with the naming and meat technicalities out of the way, heat some oil in a large sauté pan and add the ground lamb to begin browning. As it heats up, be sure to season with salt/pepper and/or any of your other favorite seasonings. I tend to use a Greek Seasoning Salt blend over plain salt most of the time, but as long as you season the meat somehow it will be fine.
Sauté the lamb for 8-10 minutes until almost cooked through before adding some finely diced onions. Continue cooking everything for a couple minutes until the onions become semi-translucent. Add some minced garlic at this point and sauté everything for a minute or two until fragrant and looking delicious!
Once the lamb is cooked through, sprinkle some AP Flour over the meat mixture and stir to combine. The flour should bond with the excess fat and grease to form a roux. Cook the flour in for about a minute before adding chicken stock, Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, and Italian Seasoning. Make sure everything is well combined and bring the mixture up to a boil.
Once you get the liquids up to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer the mixture until it thickens, about 3-4 minutes. Add the frozen veggie mix, stir them in, and cover the pan while the vegetables warm up with the lamb. Let the veggies thaw in the hot lamb mixture, but remove the pan from the heat keeping it covered for now. You can obviously use fresh veggies if you wish, but honestly the premade ready veggie mix is perfect for this recipe. Make sure it has corn, peas, and carrots at a minimum, but they usually also include green beans as a bonus. Fresh or frozen, you do whichever makes you happy. I think there is enough involved in this recipe so cheating with some frozen veggies just makes sense!
Now that the topping and filling are complete, we can finally start assembling our final dish. While your oven is preheating to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, spoon the cooked lamb filling into a baking dish. There should be enough moisture and fat in the filling so no need to worry about spraying anything to prevent sticking.
Once you have a nice thick layer of filling, spread the mashed potato topping over everything creating a seal between the rim of the baking dish and the potatoes themselves. Personally, I just used a large spoon to spread the potatoes, but for any adventurous fancy-pants people out there you can put the potatoes into a piping bag and create a very nice-looking swirl design or something. It won't change the flavor at all but will look hella impressive if that's your style!
Once your oven is up to temp, slide this dish of delish in and let it bake for about 30 minutes. I highly suggest placing a tray or baking sheet beneath this baking dish with some parchment paper to catch any spillover liquids and keep your oven clean, but feel free to live on the edge and end up with a dirty oven, lol. Anyway, everything is already cooked so all we are doing is creating a nice crust on the potatoes and making sure it is hot and delicious throughout the entire baking dish.
Oh my oh my look what we have just created! Let the Shepherd's pie rest for at least 15 minutes to allow the liquids inside to semi-cool and thicken for easier slicing and serving. This is one of those dishes I think looks cool to serve as is and spoon out at the table so sprinkle on some fresh parsley to complete the look. Otherwise, scoop out a healthy portion and watch as the faces of everyone around you turn to pure satisfaction and happiness!
It was a bit of effort and time, but all in all we have created a classic dish that is hearty and filling for all to enjoy! While it probably isn't going to become a weekday regular, this Shepherd's Pie is perfect for Sunday dinner or family gatherings around the holidays. Make it for yourself and let me know what you thought and if you did any tweaks to change it up from my base idea. Post your pics on Instagram and tag me @grubbongrub with #ShepherdsPie so I can see all your great home cooking as well! Remember, just because it looks difficult doesn't always mean you can't make it yourself with a little help from some random guy on the internet posting his crazy ass recipes and food ideas....Just Keep Cooking!
SHEPHERD'S PIE
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