How to Bake Shepherd's Pie from Scratch - The 'How to Cook' Blog

Posted By Kimberly Turner on Sep 23, 2012 in Beef, Casseroles, English, Ethnic Foods, Featured, Holidays & Events, How To Cook, Irish, Main Dishes, Pie & Tart Recipes, Potatoes, St. Patrick's Day, Western European Food | 0 comments

One of my favorite “soul food” recipe is Shepherd’s Pie…

…What’s not to love with this traditional, tasty combination?

Mashed Potatoes and Ground Beef with tasty home-style spices.

This recipe may be just how your grandmother made Shepherd’s Pie, but she may have even called it “Cottage Pie” from the more “English” translation. If it isn’t the same as grandma’s, it’s a great alternative.

This is an Old English recipe that’s as home-style as it gets.

So tasty, it will be gone, and if it’s not, then you’ll be fighting over leftovers the next day for lunch!

Type: Main Dish
Serve With: Fresh, crusty bread and a side salad
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: ~45 mins
Yield: Serves 6

The ingredients & instructions are listed below the video for measurements & directions. Please enjoy the video below:

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef
10 small-medium potatoes – peeled
1/2 small onion – diced
1 clove fresh garlic – finely minced
1/2 carrot – washed, peeled, grated or shredded
1 tbsp fresh parsley – finely minced
3 tbsp butter
1 cup milk
1 tbsp olive oil
1 heaping tbsp all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cold water – You may use chicken stock, beef stock or cold tea.
1/4 cup red wine
1/2 tsp honey
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
2 dashes ground nutmeg
1 tsp sea salt + to taste
freshly cracked black pepper – to taste

Instructions:

Preheat a large frying pan with olive oil on medium heat.
Fill large soup pot with water and 1 tsp sea salt and put on stove to boil on highest heat with peeled potatoes. Boil until just fork or knife tender.
Add onion to frying pan and cook until starting to turn translucent in color. Add ground beef to large frying pan and season with salt & pepper to taste and approximately 1/2 of the required cayenne pepper. Brown meat by cooking and moving meat around, and breaking chunks up until all is browned. Near end of browning meat, add minced garlic.
Drain potatoes in a colander when just fork tender and return back to pot with butter, milk, sea salt & freshly cracked black pepper to taste, other 1/2 of cayenne pepper called for in the recipe, and 2 dashes of ground nutmeg and mash potatoes with a masher as far as you can by hand.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Once meat is browned, add shredded carrots and sweat for an additional 2 minutes.
Add red wine to beef and reduce by half. Add flour & water mixed in a slurry first, to the pan and allow to cook until mixture boils for approximately 1 minute, stirring. Remove from heat and stir in fresh parsley.
Whip up mashed potatoes with a hand mixer for approximately 4-5 minutes on highest speed. Taste test the potatoes to be sure they are seasoned correctly and taste amazing.
Add ground beef to a 9″ x 12″ baking dish that has been sprayed with non-stick spray, buttered or oiled. Spread out evenly over the bottom of the casserole. If meat does not have a bit of juice or “sauce” at the bottom of the dish, add 1/4 cup water, stock or tea to the meat before adding the potatoes.
Cover the ground beef with whipped mashed potatoes by adding large dollops of them all over the top of the meat in the baking dish.
Be sure not to allow any of the meat mixture to show through the potatoes and using a spatula or frosting spreader, work the mashed potatoes by spreading them all over the top of the ground meat, completely sealing the beef underneath, touching all sides with no holes.
You may now create a pretty design by creating swirls, tips or as smooth as possible.
Put casserole dish into oven for 10 minutes at 425 degrees.
Move to top rack of oven and put under the broiler on the high setting for 5 minutes or until the tips of the potatoes are turning golden browned.
Remove from oven and allow to sit for at least 5 minutes before serving using a large spoon or flipper.