A lamb challenge wouldn't be complete without a classic British Shepherd's Pie now would it? This is based off a Gordon Ramsey recipe that I've been using for a few years, though it's nothing fancy in terms of ingredients. I ate his SP at Bread Street Kitchen in Hong Kong years ago - it's a decent sized portion for one and is really tasty. I've made some very small tweaks over the years which I indicate below and some of the amounts have been increased. This isn't going to win any originality contests but it's blummin' delish!
The quantities below will feed 4 hungry people so you could scale it accordingly.
Ingredients
Filling
Method
The quantities below will feed 4 hungry people so you could scale it accordingly.
Ingredients
Filling
- 1 kg minced lamb
- 1 medium onion, 2/3rd finely and 1/3rd roughly chopped
- 1 medium carrot, small cubed
- 1 stalk celery*, small cubed
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tbsp plain flour*
- 1/2 tsp dried rosemary (or fresh if you have - I had dried)
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme (ditto)
- 1 cup red wine
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 kg potatoes cut into chunks
- 1 whole egg + 1 yolk
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 2 tbsp Dijon Mustard*
- 6 tbsp butter
- 8 tbsp finely grated Parmesan
Method
- In a large pan, chuck in a couple of tbsp of vegetable oil, get it on a medium high heat then throw in your mirepoix veg. Fry that for a minute or so then add in the minced lamb. Break up the chunks with a wooden spoon and season it with salt (I used about 1.5 tsp). As the lamb gives off water, drain it off into a bowl and keep it. Keep frying the lamb till it gets a little brown and the onion/celery has turned soft and translucent.
- Now add in the Wooshstershooshture sauce, tomato paste, garlic and the herbs and give it a bit more of a fry for 2 mins. Then add the flour and fry a further 1 min.
- Tip in the wine, give it all a good mix and scrape/deglaze and cook it for another 2 mins to evaporate some of the alcohol. Tip in your chicken stock, give everything a good stir and reduce heat to simmer. Cook it for about 10 minutes or so or until your sauce is nice and thick - thicker than coating the back of a spoon as you don't want it too runny. Once it's done, turn off the heat and put it to one side.
- Now for the mash: boil the potatoes in salted water until they are tender and turning translucent, drain them and add the butter. Give it all a good mash then add in the cream and about 2/3rds of the Parmesan, plus the mustard. Mash and mix it more till it's quite smooth, then let it cool for a while.
- Turn on your oven to 180C.
- When your potatoes are cooled, stir the egg through it thoroughly. At this point, you also want to check your seasoning of the filling. Add S&P as you require.
- Portion out your filling in your pie dishes and spread mash uniformly over the top with a spatula. Score the surfaces with a fork, then sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top.
- Bake in the oven until golden brown (about 25 mins).
