Shepherd's Pie is a savory minced meat pie with a topping of mashed potato. It is also known as Cottage Pie or Hachis Parmentier. The RECIPE has many variations, but the defining ingredients are ground red meat cooked in a gravy or sauce with onions and other vegetables. It is always topped with a layer of mashed potatoes before it is baked. Lamb is the obvious choice of mince for Shepherd’s Pie but beef or pork can also be used. Here’s our version of Shepherd’s Pie.

Recipe by Mama Ding

Total Time | 1 hr 10 mins

Prep Time | 15 mins

Cook Time | 55 mins

Servings : 6 - 8

Ingredients

For the mashed potatoes topping~

4 large russet potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 tbsp salt plus more for seasoning
white pepper powder to taste
6 tbsp butter, unsalted
125 ml (1/2 cup) milk
For the meat filling~
700 g (1.5 lb) ground lamb
110 g (1/2 cup) tomato paste
2 tbsp butter, unsalted
5 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
2 yellow onion, peeled and diced small (about 1 cup)
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried rosemary
2 medium-sized carrot, peeled and diced small (about 1 cup)
130 g (1 cup) frozen green peas, defrosted
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp salt or to taste
1/2 tsp white pepper powder or to taste
1 tbsp plain flour
240 ml (1 cup) beef broth
30 g (1/2 cup) fresh parsley
45 g (1/2 cup) finely grated Parmesan cheese

Method

01 Bring a large pot of water (3.5 liter/1 gallon) and 2 tbsp salt to a boil over high heat. Add potatoes to the boiling water and boil for 20 minutes. The potatoes should be soft enough to mash.

Drain the potatoes and return to the pot. Using a masher/ricer, mash the hot potatoes until smooth. Set aside.

02 In a small saucepan, heat 6 tablespoons of butter and milk together until the butter melts.

Mix the hot butter mixture into the mashed potatoes, until just blended. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover and set aside.

03 Preheat the oven to 190 C/375 F.

Melt the remaining 2 tbsp of butter over medium heat in a large pan/wok.

Add the onion and garlic. Saute, stirring often, until the onions are softened. Add the carrots, peas, thyme and rosemary; cook until they are just tender, about 10 minutes.

Add the lamb and cook, breaking the meat up with a spatula, until it is no longer pink. (At this point, you can drain off some of the excess fat.)

04 Add the tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce. Stir and cook until it is well combined, about 3 mins.

Sprinkle the flour over the mixture and cook for 1 min. Add the beef broth and cook, stirring, until the liquid has thickened slightly.

Stir in the parsley. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Turn off heat.

05 Pour the cooked meat mixture into a heatproof dish or a (30 cm/12 inch) round casserole dish. Spread the meat mixture evenly. Top with dollops of the mashed potatoes then spread them evenly over the meat mixture. The meat mixture should be about 2/3 of the height of the dish and the potatoes topping about 1/3.

Use a fork to fluff up or make patterns on the mashed potatoes. Sprinkle the finely grated Parmesan cheese over the top of the potatoes.

Place the dish into the preheated oven. Bake the pie at 190 C/375 F for 40 mins or until the potatoes have begun to brown and the edges are bubbling.

06 Remove from the oven. Allow to cool at room temperature for 15 minutes before cutting and serving.

Notes

We used a 30 cm/12 inch pie dish to make this Shepherd’s Pie but you can use any bakeproof dish/pan. You can also bake as two smaller pies instead of one.

If using fresh herbs, substitute as follows:

1 tsp dried thyme with 4 sprigs fresh thyme

1 tsp dried rosemary with 2 sprigs fresh rosemary.

Be sure to remove the stems of the fresh herbs before baking the Shepherd’s Pie.

You can add 1/2 cup of chopped celery when cooking the meat mixture, if desired.

Replace butter with cooking oil, if desired.

For the pattern on the mashed potatoes, we used the potato masher to press down on the ready mashed potatoes and then transfer carefully the “strands” to the top of the meat mixture. It’s much easier to do using a potato ricer.

Unfinished pie can be kept covered in the refrigerator for up to a week. Reheat in the oven or microwave before consuming.

To prepare ahead: Freeze the meat filling and mashed potato separately in freezer-proof containers. These will keep in the freezer for up to 2 months. To cook from frozen, defrost the meat and mashed potato in the fridge overnight and then continue to step 05.

Choice of meat is up to you. You can use lamb mince or substitute with beef mince/pork mince/chicken mince. Or you can use half lamb and half beef or other combinations.

Shepherd’s Pie is a good way to use up leftover roasted meat.