Shepherd's Pie

I mentioned in my previous post that I had a whole lot of leftover lamb roast. We had a boneless rolled leg of lamb on Boxing day at my mother's house but only ate half of it, which left around 5 thick slices (about 2cm thick) leftover. I thought about doing more roast dinners but then decided it would be more delicious as a Shepherd's Pie.

I've been making Shepherd's Pie with mince and I've pretty much perfected my mince recipe for a delicious pie with a meaty gravy and creamy mash on top. Having to cook it the traditional way with the leftovers made me re-think my seasoning and herbs. My mum loves her lamb roasts with rosemary and lots of garlic, so I had to think about the amount of garlic flavouring this lamb would give the gravy when making this, as such I missed out on the fresh garlic and topped up the onions. I added a tin of tomatoes to my gravy mix to give it a sweeter flavour that would compliment the rosemary and garlic in the lamb.

I think the most important thing about the gravy is not to rush it, I cooked mine for 40 minutes- that's as long as I would have cooked it from fresh mince. The point is to get the plain gravy mix to take on the flavours of the lamb and to reduce it down to the right consistency so it can hold the heavy mash on top without spilling (too much) around the edges.

For the mash, I used milk and a bit of cream because I like mine to have a very creamy texture. And when assembling, it's important to rough up the mash a bit so you get the burnt tops. If I had the time and the patience, I would use a piping bag to pipe my mash into swirls, which make the dish look even more beautiful when the tops are browned. 

The best potato varieties for mash are the floury types such as Maris Piper, Desiree or King Edward. Supermarkets like Waitrose and Marks and Spencers are pretty good at labelling their potato varieties and telling you what they're good for. If you get a vegbox like me, you can always ask your supplier what variety they are sending you each week. Otherwise, make do with what you have and try changing the ratio of liquid and butter when mashing to get the right consistency. You can do a mixture of potato and parsnips (works well in a cottage pie), or potato and turnip, or even potato and sweet potato. Yum.

I always boil more potatoes than I think I need, there's no point being stingy with your mashed potatoes. You have to ensure that you top enough over you pie so each portion has the correct potato/meat ratio, ie 50/50 or 40/60 like this picture (found here http://www.seabrite.com/jeffs_great_british_eats/shepherds_pie_slice.jpg):

I feel bad not having my own slice of cottage pie to show you the thick cut pieces of roast lamb in the gravy and my own potato/meat ratio, but as usual we gobbled up the whole pie before I had a chance to take pictures. I know it's bad, it's where the chef in me takes over the photographer in me. 

Ingredients

enough for my 24cm Le Creuset Pie Dish (0.6l capacity)

700g leftover roast Lamb, cut into bitesize chunks

1 tin of chopped Tomatoes

Beef Stock/Lamb Stock/leftover Gravy

around 1.5 kg of Potatoes, quartered

1 Onion, sliced

2 medium Carrots, cut into cubes

leftover veg, I used Mushrooms, but Peas, Broad Beans and other spring greens work best (optional)

Cooking oil

Worcester Sauce

Butter

Milk

Cream (optional)

Salt & Pepper

Rosemary

Bay leaf

Recipe

Heat the oil in the pan and quickly brown the meat. Remove the meat from the pan and fry the onion and carrots in the lamb flavoured oil. Once the onions have softened, add the lamb and other leftover veg. Season, add rosemary and bay leaf. Then pour stock, Worcester sauce and tinned tomato. Heat until boiling then reduce to simmer for 40 minutes. Remove some of the liquid if you find there is too much. 

Add quartered potatoes and a bit of salt to a pan. Cover with cold water and set to boil. Cook for 20 minutes or until potatoes are cooked. I tend to set the meat sauce up then start the potatoes and leave them to cook for roughly the same time. 

Once the potatoes are cooked, drain in a colander. Add lashings of butter, salt, pepper and start mashing. As you mash, add a bit of milk and a bit of cream. Continue mashing. Keep adding milk until the potato is no longer lumpy but smooth with a consistency like very thick cream. 

Add meat sauce to the bottom of a pie dish. Then spoon or pipe mash on top. Add to a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until the mash browns and sauce is dripping down the edges. Portion onto plates. Eat.