Shepherd’s pie

technically my version is cottage pie, as it’s made w ground beef and not lamb. Comfort food. Instead of the classic mashed potato top, I roast cauliflower and purée it with Parmesan cheese, heavy cream, and butter.

I cook 3 pieces of finely diced bacon with a little olive oil and a diced onion, add some minced garlic. I cook ground beef separately and drain it, then add to onion mixture, a can of diced tomatoes, beef broth, tomato paste, red wine, lots of thyme, pepper, salt, parsley, a little oregano, Worcester sauce, and cook it for a while.

I microwave green beans and then layer the ground beef mixture, green beans next, and top w the roasted cauliflower purée, put a little Parmesan on top and bake in oven till bubbling. Reheats well in microwave also.

What’s your variation?

nobody else makes this?

I haven’t made it in years, but am inspired by your post and the fact that I have a ton of ground lamb in the freezer. We bought a whole lamb a few months ago, broken down, which comes with a lot of ground meat. Plan to make some version of Shepherds Pie next week.

Usually use all lamb but not always. Our recipe is very similar to Alan’s except for the freakin’ green beans as I am not a huge fan…unless they are cooked in pork fat of some sort then I find them tolerable.

We make a version that uses 3 pounds ground lamb and mash 4 to 5 lbs of Yukon golds. We add milk, butter, salt, pepper, sour cream and a little nutmeg to the potatoes to make them creamy and delicious. We brown the ground lamb with onion. Add salt, pepper, oregano, diced mushrooms, peas, tomatoes (canned in the winter) and then cover it all with mashed potatoes and bake it in a deep casserole dish. Layer lamb first then potatoes. Bake at 350 until potatoes are golden.

I love Shepherd’s/Cottage pie and make it a few times a year, generally through the colder months. I’m not much for keeping/following precise recipes but rather cook by feel and using techniques that have worked best for me. That said, my general/baseline “recipe” would look something like this:

Ground meat (beef, lamb, both)
Diced onion
Minced garlic
Sliced or quartered mushrooms
Sliced or diced carrots
Sliced or diced celery
Frozen green peas
Tomato paste
Wine or stout beer
Beef broth and/or water
A little Worcestershire sauce and/or A1 sauce for enhanced umami flavors
Flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
S&P
A bay leaf or two
Mashed potatoes (use any method you prefer)
Cheese to put atop on the potatoes (usually a cheddar of some kind…white and/or yellow work equally fine)

Brown your meat, drain and set aside.
Put 1 tbsp of fat (either bacon fat, oil and/or drippings from the meat…whatever you have on hand/prefer) in the pan and brown your mushrooms. Remove and set aside.
Add another 1 tbsp of fat and sauté your onions, garlic, carrots and celery until softened. Add the bay leaf too.
Add a tbsp or so of tomato paste and let it start to brown/create a fond on the bottom (I’ll sometimes add a touch of flour to help create a bit of a roux on the bottom of the pan)
Now deglaze with your wine or beer stirring until all of the tomato paste and/or flour is incorporated thoroughly.
Add the meat, mushrooms, peas and your broth/water to volume and bring up to a simmer.
Add the Worcestershire or A1 (about a tbsp or so)
Season with S&P to taste and add half of your chopped parsley.
Transfer to your serving vessel and and layer on your mashed potatoes (you can pipe them on if you’re trying to be fancy) and top with shredded cheese.
Bake in the oven (350*-375* or so) until golden brown
Serve your portions topped with the remaining chopped parsley.

Thanks Alan…now I’m starving.

Shepherd’s pie is a favorite. I use lamb only, and my only variation is add Parmesan In small quantities to mashed potato and on top.

All of these recipes look good! Convection or normal heat for baking?

Is it wrong that I used leftover meatloaf a couple weeks ago to make an improvised Shepard’s pie. Cut up the meat into small crumbles or cubes, added a gravy, veggies, and mashed potato topping.

If that’s wrong, then I don’t want to be right.

I made it for my wife on Mother’s Day with ground lamb, 3 kinds of mushrooms, and lots of roasted carrots. I topped it with puff pastry that day and had leftovers topped with mashed potatoes two days later.

I brown ground lamb, add finely grated carrots, onion and garlic. Then worchestershire, tomato paste, red wine, fresh herbs, let it cook down, top with parmesan mash and into the oven. I rarely make it but like the cauliflower angle and will try that, and also the addition of mushrooms. I actually have some in the fridge, and ground lamb in the freezer.

Yes, one of the family’s favorite winter time dinners. A couple of versions with either beef, bison, or turkey with carrots, peas, corn, and shallots, plus thyme, salt, and pepper. The sauce is a combination of beef stock, Worcestershire, red wine, and small amount of tomato paste or ketchup, depending what’s on hand. Mashed potatoes or sweet potatoes (wife) topped with cheese. Similar to many variations mentioned above.

Not until you motivate us… next rainy quarantine day this is on. You motivated my first ever batch of stuffed cabbage last week. Now is the time for high effort cooking

Thanks for all the recipes and ideas. I’ve only had Shepherd’s Pie once in my life. It was at an Irish Pub in San Francisco. I wanted to order the blood sausage, but the waitress asked if have ever had blood sausage and when I said no, she suggested I try the Shepherd’s Pie instead. It was excellent and I could have had seconds.

My daughter loves shepherds (cottage) pie (both) my son hates so we don’t do it often. Usually plan ahead and make extra mash potatoes for a previous meal in the week. Works just as well as fresh.

I forgot to mention in my prior comment that here in Sacramento there’s a pub in town that makes a pretty good shepherd’s pie that I’ll commonly recommend to coworkers/friends visiting from out of town. I always let folks know that “when you order the shepherd’s pie, they’re going to ask you if you want a friend egg on top. The answer is yes.” It is really good with the egg over easy and the yolk melding in with the potatoes and meat/gravy and yet, somehow, I’ve never thought to do this at home. I’m going to have to change that…

Since m mom’s from Boston, I grew up eating a lot of cottage pie, which we called shepherd’s pie.
We make it now and then, and planned to do one in this quarantine phase, but it’s turned a bit warm now.

I like ground beef, and actually like a small amount of ground sausage added in.
I also like to slightly up the seasoning with a touch of cayenne, cumin, and nutmeg. Not much, but a dash.
We put parm in the potato. Then my wife and I will battle over whether the top of the potatoes should have parm AND some cheddar.

I believe traditionally left over roast lamb (leg or shoulder) was used.

I could see left over meatloaf being a serviceable short cut that would give a tasty dish that purists might quibble at.

For myself I never make meatloaf, and if I did it would be seasoned differently than my shepherds or cottage pie (no wine, no carrots, include ketchup, more onion, being major differences).

One thing I find interesting is that it’s a fairly easy dish for people to cook and to exercise a little creativity in seasoning etc. Everyone has their own version.

The only critical thing is proper browning of the meat, and concentrating the juices or liquids to get a decent gravy.

It can be be basic or plussed up. (I do ‘Santa’s pie’ at Christmas with ground venison , port , shiitakes , some nutmeg and a few cranberries dotted in).