Wood-fired!

A decent Shepherd’s Pie

In a recent (in Australia) episode of Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares show, Gordon shows the ‘Irish chef’ how to make a shepherd’s pie. (Apparently the chef got his recipe off someone who knew someone who’d once been to Ireland!)

So we thought it was about time we had a shepherd’s pie especially as the cold months have just arrived with a vengence. A quick check on line gave me lots of variations on Gordon’s recipe but not the original one.

I grabbed two recipes that looked promising and made some guesses about what was original and what was added. I adjusted quantities a little and added my own corruption in the form of a few mushrooms to add to the earthiness of the meat filling. I used minced beef for this version (which I guess makes it a cottage pie) but will try it again with lamb.

It turned out great - good enough to want it again very soon. So I thought I’d record my variation before I forget it. Unfortunately I was running a little late when the dish came to the table (timing, timing, timing!) so I didn’t do the right thing and grab my camera for a quick shot but they looked good in individual bowls with rustic peaks of golden potato with some dark crunchiness on the peaks. (The pic on the left is of a second version with lamb mince and cooked in a pie crust - not as attractive as the originals because I used left-over potatoes which didn’t achieve the same peaks.)

Shepherd’s Pie

The meat filling
600g minced beef
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion finely chopped
1 large carrot finely chopped
3 large cloves garlic finely chopped
6-8 mushrooms (I used Swiss Browns)
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon tomato paste
leaves from 3-4 sprigs of thyme
1½ teaspoons chopped rosemary
1 cup shiraz
1 cup chicken stock (try beef or veal if you have it)
salt and black pepper
The mashed potatoes
4-5 medium-sized desiree potatoes (probably about 500g)
salt
15g butter
¾ cup milk
2-3 tablespoons parmesan
salt and white pepper
Assembling the pie
2 large ramekins or other steep-sided bowls
grated parmesan
butter

1. Slice mushrooms and fry in a tablespoon butter. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in a large frypan and brown the meat. (If making a larger quantity or using a smaller pan do this in batches so the meat doesn’t stew.)
3. Drain fried meat in a metal sieve or colander with fine holes. (More essential for lamb than beef I imagine.)
4. Add a knob of butter to the pan and fry the oinions for 1 minute.
5. Add the carrots and fry for a further minute.
6. Add the garlic, thyme and rosemary and continue frying (without burning the garlic) until the onions are translucent.
7. Add the meat back into the pan, sprinkle with flour and fry for a further minute or two.
8. Mix through the tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce.
9. Add the mushrooms.
10. Add the red wine and cook for a couple of minutes.
11. Add the stock, cover and cook over low heat for 20-30 minutes until the liquid is reduced but the filling is still moist.
12. Season with salt and black pepper and set aside while preparing the potatoes.
13. Peel potatoes and cut into 4 or 6 depending on the size. Boil in salted water until cooked (easily broken by pressing with the back of a knife).
14. Preheat oven to 200°C.
15. Drain potatoes and put them through a ricer (or mash until smooth).
16. Put butter and milk in a pan and bring to the boil.
17. Pour over potatoes and mix through.
18. Season with salt and white pepper.
19. Divide meat filling between the ramekins leaving room for potatoes.
20. Spoon on the potatoes and push about to seal the dish. Create ragged peaks and grate a little parmesan over. Dot with small pieces of butter.
21. Put on a tray to catch any filling that bubbles over and put in oven for around 20mins or until the potato peaks are well browned.
22. Server hot.

Leftovers were fantastic the next day!

Add comment March 30th, 2008