Shepherd’s Pie

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The ultimate winter comfort food. A thick layer of luscious minced meat coated in a silky, flavourful gravy, all topped with light, fluffy and buttery mashed potato and served with more luscious gravy! Oh my, comfort food heaven. We serve this meal for cosy family dinners, Sunday lunch when I want to prepare ahead, as well as for supper with guests with a fabulous bottle of red wine. Andrew’s favourites would be a delicious Pauillac or a Côte-Rôtie, depending on how fancy pants we want to be!

I like to cook the meat for at least an hour on a very low heat to draw out all the flavours and then leave it overnight to allow the flavours from the meat, red wine, Worcestershire Sauce, tomato puree and thyme to develop and deepen. I fully understand however, if you just cannot wait that long – particularly when you smell the delicious smells wafting around your kitchen! It will still be delicious if you cook it for only ½ an hour and eat it on the same day. The meat freezes exceptionally well so I generally make double the quantity and freeze half for another cold and blustery evening when I need a huge, warm hug in the form of this delicious meal.

Lamb or beef mince? Shepherd’s Pie or Cottage Pie? These are two very similar dishes. Shepherd’s Pie is traditionally made from lamb mince (shepherds look after the sheep, so makes sense!) and Cottage pie uses beef mince. Simple. My recipe uses a mix of the two!! So I guess this could be either but I have always called it Shepherd’s Pie. Using both meats adds further layers of flavour, but this is also delicious made with 100% beef or 100% lamb. The recipe is slightly adapted from one I have been making for over 25 years from a cookery book from the original Ivy Restaurant in London – they were famous for their Shepherd’s Pie, and having eaten it there, I knew this was the one I wanted at home as well!

The biggest problem with this dish, I discovered at the weekend, was photographing it! I promise you it is absolutely amazing and tastes way better than anything I could capture with a camera!

Once of the reasons it is so difficult to photograph, is that we like our food with a LOT of sauce. One of my pet hates, with most food not just Shepherd’s Pie, is not having enough sauce or gravy, so I tend to always make extra. (Same with custard or cream/ice cream on desserts by the way!) However, this can make the food look a bit sloppy – doesn’t look great in pictures but I look at it and think, “OMG yes please!’ If you do not want extra gravy – use half the amount of stock.

How to make Shepherd’s Pie

Collect all your ingredients together:

For the minced meat layer:

• olive oil
• minced lamb
• minced beef
• onions
• garlic cloves
• plain flour
• tomato puree
• red wine
• Worcestershire sauce
• thyme
• fine salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• beef stock

For the mashed potato:

• peeled mashing potatoes eg Maris Piper, Kind Edwards
• fine salt
• butter
• milk and/or cream
• freshly ground black pepper

First make the base:

1. Heat 1 teaspoon of oil over a moderately hot heat and add the lamb. Cook until browned all over. Break up the meat as you stir.
2. Lamb can be quite fatty, so when cooked tip into a colander lined with kitchen paper to absorb the fat. Leave a little fat (around 1 teaspoon) in the pan to cook the beef.
3. Next cook the beef until browned, breaking up the meat as you stir. Tip into the colander to absorb any extra fat. Beef can be less fatty and you may not need to be put it in the colander – depends if you have bought beef with 5% or 20% fat.
4. Tip the onion into a mini food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Alternatively, finely chop by hand.
5. Add the remaining olive oil to the pan, if necessary. There may be enough fat from the meat. You need around 2 – 3 teaspoons.
6. Tip in the onion and cook over a moderate heat until softened and lightly caramelised. Stir from time to time and scrape up all the delicious bits on the base of the pan as you stir. Add the garlic, mix in and cook for a further minute.
7. Return the meat to the pan and stir in the flour and tomato puree; cook for 1 minute, stirring continuously.
8. Pour in the red wine and cook until it has reduced and almost disappeared.
9. Next add the Worcestershire Sauce, thyme and seasoning. Stir well.
10. Add the stock, stir to mix and bring to a gentle simmer. Cover and cook on low for ideally 1 hour but a minimum of 30 minutes.
11. Remove roughly 500ml of gravy by ladling it into a saucepan through a sieve. Tip any meat in the sieve back in the pot. Simmer the gravy, without a lid, to reduce and thicken – you need around 250ml – 300ml.
12. At the same time simmer the minced meat further until there is only a little gravy left.

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Make the mashed potatoes:

1. Peel the potatoes and cut into even sized chunks.
2. Cover with cold water, add the salt and bring to a gentle simmer. Cover and cook until soft. This will take 15 – 25 minutes, depending on the type and size of the potatoes.
3. When the potatoes are soft, drain well.
4. Get together the cream/milk, butter and pepper to add.
5. Mash the potatoes with either a potato masher or an electric whisk and add the butter, pepper and half the cream or milk.
6. Whisk until light and fluffy, adding more cream/milk as needed. (NB stop whisking as soon as the potatoes are light and fluffy. If you over-whisk, the potatoes can become waxy in texture. )

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Assemble the Shepherd’s Pie:

1. Transfer the meat to a baking dish. I use a dish measuring 26 cms/10 inches long, 18 cms/7 inches wide and 7cms/2½ inches deep
2. Top with the mashed potato.
3. Use a knife to make some swirls in the potato or use a fork instead. Cook in a preheated oven for 45 minutes or until everything is piping hot, you can see little bubbles come to the surface and the potatoes have nicely browned. If you have topped the minced meat with potatoes and then stored in the fridge overnight or for a few hours, you may require an extra 10 minutes in the oven.
4. If you have made the meat and gravy the day before and kept it in the fridge overnight, you should be able to remove any extra fat from the top of the gravy. Reheat in a pan to serve.
5. Serve the Shepherd’s Pie hot with gravy and extra Worcestershire sauce on the side and some green vegetables

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