A True Shepherd's Pie

Aww shepherd's pie, that interesting Irish dish that for some reason seems to be made with beef almost everywhere these days. I mean since when did shepherds watch cows? I don't know about you but if I'm going to break bread with the shepherds I definately won't insult them by swapping the meat on them. So to keep it cordial and for my taste buds' sake, I'll have lamb in my shepherd's pie.

Yield: About six gracious portions.

Ingredients:

Shepherd's Pie Filling

• 2lb Ground Lamb
• 1/4 Cup Butter (1/2 stick or 4 tablespoons)
• (1) 15oz Can Whole Corn
• (1) 1lb Bag Peas and Carrots
• 2 Medium Sized Onions-Diced
• 4 tbsp Worchester Sauce
• 1 tbsp Salt
• 1 tbsp Pepper
• 1/4 Cup Beef Broth

Mashed Potatoes

• ~2.5-2.75lb Potatoes
• 5 tbsp Sour Cream
• 1/4 Cup Butter (1/2 stick or 4 tablespoons)
• 1/2 Cup Milk
• 3 Clove Garlic-Minced
• 1 tbsp Salt
• 1/2 tbsp Pepper

Recipe:

Dice the onions, mince the garlic, slice or quarter the potatoes and prepare the veggies.

Prepare a pot of boiling water and boil for 10-15min until the potatoes are soft enough to easily insert a fork into.

Drain the water and mash the potatoes, add the butter and continue to mash until mostly smooth and butter is melted completely.

Add the garlic, sour cream, milk, salt and pepper. Continue to mash until incorporated.

Optionally, you can add some extra whipped texture by using a hand mixer for about 2-3min. Set mashed potatoes aside.

In a frying pan on medium heat melt the butter and cook the onions until translucent, about 5min.

Add in the lamb, break up into small chucks and cook until most of the pink is gone.

Add the remaining veggies, stir around, then add the beef broth, worchester sauce, salt and pepper. Allow this to stew for about 10min.

First layer the filling on the bottom, then add the masked potatoes on top. If you like, you can rough up the top with a fork for appearance. (if using a 9x13 baking dish, you may need to scale back the mashed potatoes or filling; either is quite yummy on it's own anyways :) )

Place in a 400F oven for 30min. For extra browning you can use the broiler.

Let it cool down and enjoy a helping with your local shepherds. On second thought, who likes sharing anyways?

I like adding extra worchester sauce to mine too when I eat it. You can also use HP sauce if you want, but I can drink worchester so that's my poison.