Shepherd’s Pie

I’ll start off with a disclaimer.  My goal was to end up with a dish that tasted like beef pot pie (of the genre of my chicken pot pie), but was topped with mashed potatoes instead of pastry.  It didn’t turn out that way, but it was critically acclaimed by the eaters and I continue to make it again and again.

Note that this is pot and pan intensive. I usually try to limit dirty dishes to as minimalist as possible, but there really isn’t a decent way to cut corners on this dish. All I can say is, it’s worth it.

Serves 6+

Takes close to 2 hours from clean counter start to getting it in the oven if cooking at a “measured pace”.  So allow ~3 hours after baking and resting until eating.

[Updated 12/2023 and 3/2024]

Ingredients:

• 1+ lbs ground lamb (my preference) <OR> about 1.5 lbs of lamb or beef stew meat trimmed well and 3/4” cubed
• 1 qt beef broth
• 2 celery stalks chopped
• 1 medium onion roughly chopped
• 2 carrots cut into 1/2” pieces
• 3/4 cup of green beans cut into 1” pieces (frozen peas could be substituted)
• 1/2 medium parsnip cut into 1/2” pieces
• 1/3 rutabega cut up into 1/2” pieces
• 3 large russet potatoes
• ~ 6 cremini mushrooms chopped
• 5-6 cloves of garlic - 3 chopped for vegetable mix and 2 for mashed potatoes
• salt and pepper
• thyme
• curry
• cayenne pepper
• butter
• milk
• flour
• corn starch
• olive or avacado oil
• Panko
• grated parmesan

In a heavy bottom dutch oven like a le creuset, brown cubed meat salt and peppered in batches in light oil .  Keep heat high enough not to stew but not high enough to burn fond.  <OR> if using ground meat, don’t brown, just cook and fully render fat. Remove meat to a plate or bowl with paper towels to absorb grease.

Remove excess grease from pot, and sauté onions and celery.  Add garlic at end for about 30 seconds.

Add back meat and any juices, add other vegetables (except for potatoes).  Add enough broth to just cover.  Add seasonings to taste *.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and simmer uncovered for about 1 hour or until vegetables are soft.  (* I don’t usually measure seasonings since they are so variable to the underlying food and to individual taste.  I’ll add what feels like maybe 75% of what will be needed, then taste several times as it cooks, adding more if necessary.)

Meanwhile, peel potatoes and cut for boiling.  Boil with a couple cloves of garlic, and mash* and reserve in covered pot to stay warm.  (A normal mash, with butter and salt and pepper and milk to taste, etc.)

Prepare a roux of flour and butter, about 3 TBs each when meat and vegetables are done simmering.  Strain broth into a sauce pan and bring to a simmer.  Reserve beef and vegetable mixture in baking dish or Dutch oven and keep warm in oven.  Separately whisk together 1TBs cornstarch and 1/4 cup of milk.

Pour hot broth slowly into roux and whisk into a gravy.  Be judicious as to how much of the broth you use, you may not need all of it.  Simmer to thicken about 10 minutes while stirring.  Add cornstarch mixture slowly while whisking until consistency is pretty thick. (Note I use both thickening techniques to get it as thick as needed so the end result is not soupy.)

Preheat oven to 325.  Pour gravy over beef and vegetable mix in a baking pan.  Add mashed potatoes to top in a thick layer.  Sprinkle some Panko and then some grated Parmesan over the top and some fresh ground pepper.  Cook in oven until bubbling and Panko is lightly browned - about 30 minutes (turn on broiler last couple minutes to brown if needed)

Remove from oven and let rest for 15 minutes then serve.