Shepherd’s Pie – A Lovely Mess

In case you are on the lookout for an extremely comforting meal, look no additional than this shepherd’s pie recipe. It’s simple, filling, filled with taste, and I really like a meal that makes nice leftovers as properly. 🙂

Shepherd’s pie is a conventional Irish recipe that’s often made with floor lamb. Technically, since I’m utilizing floor beef, this could be referred to as cottage pie as a substitute. Both means, this casserole-style meal has a juicy, meat and vegetable base that tastes prefer it nearly has gravy and topped with tacky mashed potatoes. In the event you like a meat and potato dinner, you might be gonna love this recipe!

Associated: Subsequent up, strive our meatloaf recipe, stuffed peppers or goulash.

Elements

• Yellow onion
• Garlic
• Olive oil
• Floor beef
• Worcestershire sauce
• Tomato paste
• All-purpose flour
• Beef broth
• Frozen peas and carrots combine
• Salt
• Black pepper
• Potatoes
• Unsalted butter
• Entire milk or half and half cream
• Garlic powder
• Onion powder
• Parmesan cheese
• Inexperienced onions, optionally available

I like Yukon gold potatoes for this recipe, however different potatoes like russet or crimson work properly too.

The way to make Shepherd’s Pie

Finely chop the onion and mince the garlic.

Boil a medium to giant pot of water and add salt. Peel the potatoes and reduce into small cubes. Boil for about 10 minutes, till you’ll be able to simply mash a bit with a spoon or fork.

Warmth the oil over medium warmth in a big saucepan. Cook dinner the aromatics for 2-3 minutes, till the onions start to melt. Add within the floor beef and Worcestershire sauce. Break up the meat into small items because it cooks. Brown the meat so no pink stays, one other 3-5 minutes. Then add within the peas and carrots (they are often frozen) and season all the things with a bit of salt and pepper.

Now stir within the tomato paste and beef broth. Sprinkle the flour over all the things and stir to include. Cook dinner one other couple of minutes. The combination ought to flip right into a sauce that thickens not fairly as a lot as a gravy however thicker than broth. Take away from warmth.

Drain the water from the potatoes, maintaining the potatoes within the pot. Add the butter, milk or cream, garlic powder, onion powder, and Parmesan cheese. Mash till practically no lumps stay, as we’re on the lookout for creamy mashed potatoes. If wanted, add extra milk or cream if the mashed potatoes appear too thick. They need to be simple to unfold with a spoon.

In an 8×8 sq. casserole dish, add the meat combination. Layer on the potatoes and unfold so that they cowl all the things to the sides of the pan. Bake within the oven at 400°F for 25 minutes. The perimeters of the potatoes ought to flip a golden brown and you may even see among the meat gravy bubble up. High with chopped inexperienced onions if utilizing and serve heat.

Ideas and Notes

• Use floor lamb for conventional Shepherd’s Pie. I’ve used floor beef right here, which is technically cottage pie. You would additionally use floor turkey or floor rooster for a lighter model of this meal. In the event you do, I’d swap the meat broth for rooster inventory or rooster broth.
• You’ll be able to add 1/4 to 1/2 cup frozen corn to this meat combination when you like.
• To make this simpler, you’ll be able to high with tater tots as a substitute of the creamy mashed potatoes. Though not conventional, it’s nonetheless scrumptious and makes it a bit of extra kid-friendly.
• You’ll be able to swap the inexperienced onions or chives for different contemporary herbs you would possibly want like thyme, rosemary or parsley.
• I take advantage of an 8×8 sq. baking dish for this recipe, however 9×9 will work simply wonderful too. You would additionally use a spherical or oval baking dish. I like ceramic or glass finest for casserole-style meals, however in a pinch a steel pan will work simply wonderful too. This isn’t an excellent fussy recipe!
• If you wish to make this meal forward of time, observe the directions as much as the purpose of baking. As a substitute, cowl the dish in plastic wrap and retailer it within the fridge for as much as 48 hours. When prepared, bake for an extra 5 minutes (so half-hour complete) if baking straight out of the fridge (eradicating plastic wrap, in fact).
• Retailer any leftovers in an hermetic container within the fridge for at the very least 3 days. You’ll be able to simply rewarm this within the microwave.

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