Ina Garten-Inspired Shepherd's Pie
The topping that ends up half-submerged in gravy was not too wet. It went onto a hot filling.
Warm gravy is thin, and mashed potato is heavy — spread one over the other and it sinks. Cool the filling completely, until it has set enough to hold a spoon mark, and the potato sits on top of it as a separate layer that can brown. If you are in a hurry, spread the filling on a tray to cool it faster, or drop the potato on in spoonfuls and join them up rather than spreading from one corner.
This is also why shepherd's pie is better made a day ahead than made in one session.
Jump to the recipe ↓Ina Garten-Inspired Shepherd's Pie
Serves 6 · Main
- Prep
- 30 min
- Cook
- 1 hr 10 min
- Total
- 1 hr 40 min
Involved9 steps, 17 ingredients, a technique that commonly fails
Ingredients
For the filling
- 900 g minced lamb
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 onions, diced
- 3 carrots, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tbsp tomato purée
- 2 tbsp plain flour
- 150 ml red wine
- 400 ml lamb or beef stock
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tbsp chopped rosemary
- 150 g frozen peas
For the topping
- 1.2 kg floury potatoes, peeled and chunked
- 100 g butter
- 120 ml whole milk, warmed
- 1 egg yolk
- 50 g Parmesan, grated
Method
- Brown the lamb hard in batches and set it aside. Crowding it steams the meat and you lose the crust.
- Soften the onions and carrots . Add garlic and tomato purée and cook 2 minutes.10 minutes
- Stir in the flour, then the wine, and reduce by half.
- Return the lamb with the stock, Worcestershire and rosemary. Simmer , uncovered, until thick.30 minutes
- Stir in the peas. Cool the filling completely.
- Boil the potatoes until tender, drain, and leave them in the dry pan a minute to steam off.
- Mash with butter, warm milk, the yolk and half the Parmesan.
- Spread the potato over the cold filling. Rough the top with a fork and scatter the rest of the Parmesan.
- Bake at 200°C for , until browned and bubbling at the edges.30 minutes
Shepherd's means lamb
A shepherd keeps sheep. Made with beef it is a cottage pie — the same dish, a different name, and worth knowing because the two are constantly confused on recipe sites. Lamb is fattier and stronger, so it wants the rosemary and the Worcestershire more than beef does.
Rough up the top
Drag a fork across the potato in lines, or pipe it. Every ridge is extra surface area exposed to the oven, and the browned peaks are the best part of the dish. A smooth flat top browns as one pale sheet.
Dry the potatoes before mashing
Water left in boiled potatoes makes a loose mash that slumps rather than holding its ridges. Drain them, put them back over low heat for a minute, and let the steam come off before any butter goes near them.
Storing
Assembled and unbaked, two days in the fridge or three months frozen. Bake from chilled with an extra 15 minutes; from frozen, 190°C for an hour and a quarter, covered for the first half.
Questions people ask
What is the difference between shepherd's pie and cottage pie?
Shepherd's pie is lamb, cottage pie is beef. Otherwise the same dish.
Why did my topping sink?
The filling was still warm. It has to be completely cold.
Can I make it ahead?
Yes, and it is better for it. Assemble, refrigerate up to two days, and bake from cold.
Which potatoes?
Floury ones — Maris Piper or King Edward. Waxy potatoes go gluey when mashed.
More like this
Ina Garten-Inspired Beef Bourguignon: Garnish ApartThe onions and mushrooms are cooked separately and added at the end. Simmered in from the start they are what turns it into ordinary stew.
Ina Garten-Inspired Beef Stroganoff: Not Stewing SteakStroganoff is a fast dish and stewing beef needs hours. Use fillet or sirloin, seared in seconds, or it turns grey and tough.
Ina Garten-Inspired Beef Tenderloin: Tuck the TailA whole tenderloin tapers from thick to thin. Fold the narrow end under and tie it, or that end is well done before the middle is warm.