Recipe: Tasty Shepherd's Pie

Shepherd's Pie. Place in a medium saucepan and cover with cold water. Set over high heat, cover and bring to a boil. Traditionally, shepherd's pie is made with lamb (hence the name).

But since I'm Scottish, I thought I'd give it a unique twist to suit my ancestral tastes. The use of lamb, the smoky, heather taste of Guinness® Draught (Irish, I admit), and the topping of sharp Cheddar and smoked paprika give this version its unique, smoky-sweet flavor. This is a recipe for Cottage Pie. You can cook Shepherd's Pie using 20 ingredients and 5 steps. Here is how you cook it.

Ingredients of Shepherd's Pie

1. Prepare 1.5 lbs of russet potatoes, peeled and cubed.
2. You need 1/4 cup of half & half.
3. You need 2 tablespoons of butter.
4. It's 1 teaspoon of kosher salt.
5. Prepare 1/4 teaspoon of cracked pepper.
6. It's 1 of egg yolk.
7. It's 2 tablespoons of canola oil.
8. Prepare 1 of small onion, diced (about one cup).
9. Prepare 2-3 of carrots, peeled, diced (1 cup).
10. You need 2 of large cloves garlic, minced.
11. It's 1 1/2 lbs of ground lamb (traditional) or ground beef.
12. Prepare 1 teaspoon of kosher salt.
13. It's 1/2 teaspoon of cracked pepper.
14. You need 3 tablespoons of flour.
15. You need 2 tablespoons of tomato paste.
16. It's 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce.
17. It's 1 1/2 cup of beef broth.
18. You need 1 tablespoon of ea. Chopped fresh rosemary and thyme leaves.
19. It's of Kernels cut from 2 ears corn (1 cup).
20. It's 1 cup of frozen peas.

This is a recipe for Cottage Pie. Thank you, Dale Shepherd's Pie is basically a beefy pot pie with mashed potatoes on top instead of a crust, and mashed potatoes make everything better, don't they? So, this is how you spell it: Shepherd's Pie. But, from doing a quick google search, it came to my attention that TONS of people think it's Shepards Pie.

Shepherd's Pie instructions

1. Peel the potatoes and cut into 1/2-inch dice. Place in a medium saucepan and cover with cold water. Set over high heat, cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, uncover, decrease the heat to maintain a simmer and cook until tender and easily crushed with tongs, approximately 10 to 15 minutes..
2. Place the half-and-half and butter into a microwave-safe container and heat in the microwave until warmed through, about 35 seconds. Drain the potatoes in a colander and then return to the saucepan. Mash the potatoes and then add the half and half, butter, salt and pepper and continue to mash until smooth. Stir in the yolk until well combined. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F..
3. While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the filling. Place the canola oil into a 12-inch saute pan and set over medium high heat. Once the oil shimmers, add the onion and carrots and saute just until they begin to take on color, approximately 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and stir to combine. Add the lamb, salt and pepper and cook until browned and cooked through, approximately 3 minutes. Sprinkle the meat with the flour and toss to coat, continuing to cook for another minute..
4. Add the tomato paste, beef broth, Worcestershire, rosemary, thyme, and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer slowly 10 to 12 minutes or until the sauce is thickened slightly. Add the corn and peas to the lamb mixture and spread evenly into an 11 by 7-inch glass baking dish. Top with the mashed potatoes, starting around the edges to create a seal to prevent the mixture from bubbling up and smooth with a rubber spatula..
5. Place on a cookie sheet on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 25 minutes or just until the potatoes begin to brown. Remove to a cooling rack for at least 15 minutes before serving..

Traditional Irish Shepherd's Pie would actually call for ground lamb. The difference between Shepherd's Pie and Cottage Pie is the meat. Shepherd's Pie comes to us from England, and is traditionally made with lamb or mutton. Here in the states we are more of a beef eating culture than a lamb eating one, and when one is served "shepherd's pie" here, it is most often made with ground beef. Shepherd's pie is traditionally made with a ground-lamb filling, but we make ours with ground beef.