Lamb Shephard’s Pie!!!

Once a poor man’s dish of using any kind of leftover roasted meat, topped with mashed potatoes, has now evolved into a special dish made and loved by some of most famous chefs like Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsey. 

You can literally make dozens of different versions of this dish, using lamb, beef, chicken, or turkey and topped with any kind of mashed veggies OR pie crust.

My favorite version is just a classic Lamb and Mashed potato recipe. 

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb ground lamb
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped carrots and celery
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• 1 sprig of each, rosemary, thyme, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp chopped parsley
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 bay leaf (optional)
• 2 tbsp tomato paste **see notes
• 1 tsp flour
• 1 cup of red wine
• 1 cup of beef/chicken stock
• salt and pepper
• 2 large potatoes (I always like yukon gold but you can use any kind)
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tbsp butter

Instructions:

• Add the potatoes in a pot and cover with water with a some salt. Boil potatoes until tender.
• While potatoes are boiling, heat the oil in a skillet on medium heat. Once hot, add the ground lamb, add salt, pepper to taste. Sauté until browned, about 5-7 minutes. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and keep aside.
• In the same pan (with leftover oil) add the onion, celery, carrots, thyme, rosemary, bayleaf and sauté until fragrant, about 3-4 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste if needed.
• Then add the minced garlic, followed by flour. Sauté for 2-3 minutes, until the flour is cooked.
• Add the meat back in the pot, followed by tomato paste. Stir to mix well. Then add the red wine.
• Once the wine cooks down a bit, about 5-6 minutes, add the stock.
• Add the frozen peas and chopped parsley. Cook for another 8-10 minutes, until it’s nice and thick.
• Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Drain the potatoes and mash them in a bowl. Heat the milk and butter until very warm and add to the potatoes a little at a time.
• Put the meat in a baking dish and top the meat with the mashed potatoes. **See notes
• Bake for about 20 minutes. Turn up the heat to 450 and bake for another 10 minutes to brown the top.

**Note:

• You can top the mashed potatoes any way you want to. You can just slab on the potatoes in a think layer. I snipped off the corner of a ziplock bag to make a makeshift piping bag and piped the potatoes into little dollops.
• You can use tomato sauce as well. I’ve also used finely chopped fresh tomatoes when I didn’t have store bought.
• When it comes to the pot/pan to make this, you can really use anything with a heavy bottom and high sides. I have made this in casserole dish and cast iron pan (which is my favorite).