Shephard's Pie

By exdircomp

Cottage Pie is made with ground beef
Shephard's pie is made with ground lamb
In true British fashion they never use cheese on either. Strictly an american tradition.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds potatoes, such as russet, peeled and cubed
• 2 tablespoons sour cream or softened cream cheese
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1/2 cup cream, for a lighter version substitute vegetable or chicken broth
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
• 1 3/4 pounds ground beef or ground lamb
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh or dry rosemary
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons gravy flour
• 1 tablespoon dry mustard
• 1 cup beef stock or broth
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire, eyeball it
• 1/2 cup frozen peas, a couple of handfuls
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1 cup cheddar cheese

Details

Servings 4

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Boil potatoes in salted water until tender, about 12 minutes. Drain potatoes and pour them into a bowl. Combine sour cream, egg yolk and cream. Add the cream mixture into potatoes and mash until potatoes are almost smooth.

While potatoes boil, preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add mushrooms to skillet and saute over low heat until they start to give up their juices. Add oil to hot pan with beef or lamb. Season meat with salt, pepper, rosemary, tomatoe paste and garlic. Brown and crumble meat for 3 or 4 minutes. If you are using lamb and the pan is fatty, spoon away some of the drippings. Add chopped carrot and onion to the meat. Cook veggies with meat 5 minutes, stirring frequently. In a second small skillet over medium heat cook butter and flour together 2 minutes. Whisk in broth, dry mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Thicken gravy 1 minute. Add gravy to meat and vegetables. Stir in peas. Fill a small rectangular casserole with meat and vegetable mixture. Bake 40 to 45 minutes.
Preheat broiler to high. Spoon potatoes over meat evenly. Top potatoes with paprika and broil 6 to 8 inches from the heat until potatoes are evenly browned. Sprinkle cheese over potatoes evenly, and broil6 to 8 inches from the heat until cheese is evenly browned. Top casserole dish with chopped parsley and serve.