Shepherd’s Pie is a traditional British dish rich in flavors, the perfect heart-warming meal for the cold season.
Simple ingredients like lamb, potatoes, veggies and fresh herbs combine to make an all time favorite family meal recipe. The secret behind the best Shepherd’s pie is to choose the freshest ingredients you can effort, this will really make the difference.
The original recipe comes under the name of Cottage Pie, and includes leftover roasted meat of any kind or more popularly, minced beef meat. A particular version of this dish is called Shepherd’s Pie, and uses only lamb as meat, which gives an extra rich flavor to the pie.
This no-fuss classic pie is super easy to put together. The meat is the real star and is gently cooked with loads of fresh aromatic herbs such as thyme and bay leaves, few spices and fresh vegetables. The potato mash is fluffly, rich and slightly golden on top, and it gives a fantastic crunchy & soft texture at the same time.
Winter is the perfect time to indulge into this delicious British favorite. Shepherd’s Pie is the ultimate comfort food meal and it’s great on a cold night, but you can also give it an elegant touch and transform the big pie into cute individual pot pies for a fun appetizer to share with friends.
I hope you give this delicious pie a try. If you do, please let me know how you liked, leave a comment or stop by on my Facebook page. Don’t forget to get a snap of your recipe and tag it #thepetitecook on Instagram! Looking at your delicious food always makes me smile!
Traditional Shepherd's Pie
Ingredients
- • 1 red onion finely minced
- 1 lb/ 450 gr high-quality minced lamb
- 2 carrots finely cubed
- 2 sticks of celery finely cubed
- 2 cloves of garlic finely minced
- 2 bay leaves
- a small bunch of fresh rosemary and thyme
- Extravirgin olive oil
- 1 can chopped tomatoes
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1.5 kg Desiree potatoes
- 100 ml semi-skimmed milk
- a large knob of butter
Instructions
- Heat a large pan on a medium heat . Drizzle with extravirgin olive oil and add onion, carrot, celery, garlic, bay leaves and most of the rosemary & thyme leaves.
- Cook until the vegetables are soft, about 10 mins, stirring occasionally.
- Add the minced lamb, season and stir fry over high heat until the meat has browned.
- Fold the tomatoes in and cook for 5 mins, stirring occasionally.
- Pour in the stock, season with salt and pepper and stir well, then bring to a boil.
- Reduce to very low heat and slightly cover with a lid, then allow to simmer for about 50 mins.
- While the lamb ragout cooks, make the potato mash.
- Peel and cut the potatoes into quarters, and put them into a pot of boiling salted water.
- Simmer for 10 mins or until cooked through.
- Drain the potatoes and put them back into the pan. Add butter and salt & pepper to taste. Gently pour the milk and mash until you have fluffly and smooth texture.
- Line a large baking dish or 4 individual baking pots with the lamb mixture.
- Spoon the potato mash (or use a piping bag) evenly over the top of the meat. Sprinkle with butter flakes and the remaining herbs on top of the potatoes .
- Bake in a preheated oven to 190ºC/375F for about 25 min, until golden and bubbling. Allow to cool a little and serve. Enjoy!