Expertly seasoned lamb and vegetables, topped with rich, velvety mashed potatoes then baked to perfection – that sure sounds like comfort food to me.
Sometimes, in the winter especially, I just want a really rich and delicious home cooked meal. So many heartwarming dishes come to mind, but one in particular that I always make when it’s cold outside is Shepard’s Pie. As a traditional English meal, it is made with ground lamb, but beef or even turkey could easily be used as a substitute in my recipe.
Begin by preparing the carrots and onions by pulsing in a small food processor until they are finely chopped. If you don’t have a food processor, you can use a box grater to get the same effect, it will just take a little longer. The reason we want the carrots and onions to be so finely chopped, is that they will begin to melt into the meat and become part of the sauce, trust me, it’s super tasty!
Here we go about 1 cup of carrots and 1 cup of onion, finely grated.
Next, heat some olive oil over medium high heat in a large pan. I prefer to use an enameled cast iron pan; they can be a bit pricey, but this one is a Cuisinart, like mine, and happens to be an excellent price on amazon right now!
Add in the ground lamb and 1 teaspoon of salt making sure to break up the large bits. When the meat is fully browned, drain the excess fat. Lamb can be quite fatty and most of it renders out during the browning, so make sure to drain it really well and you will save yourself several hundred calories 😉
Make a space in the middle of the pan and add in the carrots and onions and a tad more salt.
Like this….
Cook over medium high heat for about 5 minutes until the carrots and onions start to get really soft. Next add in the garlic, better than bouillon, and tomato paste and cook for about 2 more minutes.
Lastly, add in the water, red wine, Worcestershire sauce and thyme; cook over medium low for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
Now that your meat mixture is cooked, you can bake your pies in individual dishes as I did for the photos in this post. Or you can cook it right in the dutch oven it’s already in 😉 I often just spread the mashed potatoes right on top of the mixture and pop the whole thing in the oven – super easy.
If you’d like to do individual pies, just line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set ramekins on the sheet. You will need 1.5 – 2 cup capacity ramekins, such as these. Mine are 2 cup, but there was plenty of extra room, so 1.5 cup would be fine.
Divide the seasoned meat evenly between the dishes.
Then top each with a generous cup of mashed potatoes. I will post my crock pot mashed potato recipe soon – I pinky swear. For now, just use your favorite mashed potatoes – even store bought ones will do, no judgement here!
These guys are ready for a trip into a preheated 375 degree oven for 15-20 minutes.
Or….if you are prepping the meal ahead of time, you can cover lightly with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator until dinner time. The cold pies will need 35-40 minutes in the oven to come up to temperate.
I served ours with fresh green beans, but buttered peas are also a popular side dish. Really, any fresh vegetable would accompany it well. Now sit down, warm up and relax as you dig into this decadent meal.
[recipe id=”1151″]