Shepard’s Pie Recipe: A Traditional American Dish

Shepard’s Pie is a traditional American dish, perfect for a family dinner. Many people love this meal for its ease of preparation and pleasant memories associated with it, for example, about the holidays spent in the countryside. Shepard’s Pie is a classic potato casserole with ground beef or lamb and vegetables. You can choose vegetables to your liking, but the recipe usually includes carrots, green peas, and onions. Some people prefer to add zucchini, corn or celery, and a rosemary seasoning, thyme, and parsley – fresh or dried. Nothing terrible will happen if you take convenience foods instead of fresh potatoes and vegetables, but we recommend using real Russett Potatoes for mashed potatoes.

• Preparation time: 20 minutes
• Cooking time: 50 minutes
• Yield: Serves four people

Before heading to your nearest supermarket, prepare a grocery list. You’ll need:

• 3-4 large Russett Potatoes
• 8 tablespoons of butter
• 1 medium onion
• 1-2 cups of vegetables (carrots, diced, corn, peas) (Shortcut: you can buy ready-made canned or frozen vegetables)
• 1 ½ lb. ground beef
• 1 pack of ready-made beef broth or broth cubes
• Worcestershire sauce
• Seasonings: salt, pepper, garlic, herbs (parsley, rosemary, thyme, or Italian herbs)
• Cream
• Drinks and additional dishes for serving dinner – wine, fresh bread, dessert

Here, Figure 1 shows the ingredients that can be used to prepare a dish. In the image one can see ready-made chicken broth (but we recommend taking beef broth or cubes of beef broth that you pour with boiling water), cream (to add to ready-made mashed potatoes), red wine, potatoes, fresh vegetables, rosemary, and diced beef. We advise taking ready-made ground beef. Don’t forget to put it in the freezer if you don’t intend to start cooking right away. Also, note that Worcestershire sauce and beef broth contain salt.

Now carefully unpack the bags from the supermarket and place the ingredients on the table. Prepare the necessary utensils:

• Ceramic or metal baking dish (8×13)
• Large frying pan
• Large saucepan
• Vegetable peeler
• Cutting board and a sharp knife for cutting vegetables
• Masher
• Measuring cup and measuring spoon
• Wine opener
• Spatula for preparing ground beef
• Oven potholders

Now you can finally start the cooking process. It consists of two parts – preparation of ingredients and cooking.

Stage 1, Preparation

1. Cut fresh onions in half and peel, then finely chop.
2. Fresh carrots also need to be peeled with a knife and then cut into small cubes.
3. Chop the herbs finely – you only need 3 teaspoons.
4. Peel Russett Potatoes with a knife and cut into quarters. Be careful when cutting potatoes as they may slip out of your hands.

Make a puree

1. Place a large saucepan on the stovetop, add the sliced potatoes, pour in the water to cover at least an inch of the potatoes, and add a teaspoon of salt.
2. Set the heat to high and wait for the water to boil.
3. Reduce heat to low and cook potatoes for 15-20 minutes.
4. Pierce the potatoes with a fork to check if they are cooked. If the potatoes are so soft that a fork can easily pass through them, they are cooked.
5. Drain the water into the sink, holding the lid on the potatoes, so they don’t spill out. Or you can use a strainer to strain the boiled potatoes if you have one.
6. After you drain the potato pan, mash it with a masher, add 4 tablespoons of butter, add salt, pepper, and cream. The more cream or sour cream you add, the more fluffy the potatoes will be. You can use an electric masher for chopping, but the puree will be smooth even when mashed manually if you boil the potatoes well.

Figure 2, 3, 4 shows the necessary steps for making a puree.

Stage 2, Cooking

While the potatoes are cooking, you can do other important things.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees – turn on the stove, set the desired temperature, and wait. It usually takes 15-20 minutes for a standard oven to warm up.

Fry vegetables and beef for a delicious pie filling:

1. Take a large skillet and place it on the stove. Pour 4 tablespoons of olive oil and spread it over the entire surface. To do this, turn on a little heat; the oil will heat up, and you will easily distribute it by tilting the pan slightly to the right and left.
2. Add finely chopped onions and carrots and sauté for 6-10 minutes until tender over medium heat.
3. Add fresh ground beef, chop it with a spatula and cook until no longer pink.
4. Add 1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce and ½ cup of beef broth, boil, then cook over on the low heat. You can also add 2 tablespoons of red wine.
5. Add peas, corn, or other vegetables of your choice and fresh or dried herbs; cook uncovered for 10 minutes.

Figure 5-12 show the main steps in making the filling for Shepard’s Pie. Some cooks prefer to add 1 tablespoon of flour and 1 tablespoon of tomato paste before adding wine and Worcestershire sauce. Flour is used to thicken the sauce, and tomato paste adds sweetness by balancing the flavor. As you can see, green peas, corn (which is not in the photo), and greens are added at the final stage. You can also add celery to onions and carrots at the start of sautéing if you like the taste.

Stage 3, Assembling the dish and preparing for baking

1. Gently pour the contents of the pan into a baking dish using a spatula.
2. Lay a layer of potatoes on top. You can use a piping bag to create a beautiful pattern. To brown the potatoes gorgeously in the oven, you can grease them with a mixed egg. You can also sprinkle the potatoes with grated Parmesan or cheddar.

Figures 13-16 show how to lay out the layers before baking. Some people prefer to bake the dish in the same pan used to fry the filling. But we advise transferring the meal to a baking dish. The ceramic mold will not be as hot when you have to take it out of the oven, and it looks much prettier when set.

1. Place the dish in a preheated oven and cook for 4-6 minutes. The finished meal will turn golden brown and bubble slightly.
2. Turn off the oven, put on the oven mitts, remove the baking dish from the oven, and be careful not to burn yourself.
3. Place the finished Shepard’s Pie on a wooden stand and let it rest for 10-15 minutes.
4. Serve in portions and garnish with parsley.

Shepard’s Pie recipe is so appealing because it does not require additional serving – this is an all-in-one meal that includes side dishes, vegetables, and meat. It can be served with red wine, bread, and fresh vegetables.

Suggested tools to make cooking easier:

Important

• Go for lean meats as excess fat can ruin the taste. To remove excess fat when frying meat, the fat can be removed with a paper towel.
• Don’t oversalt the Pie! The finished beef broth already contains salt, as does Worcestershire sauce. Therefore, be sure to taste the filling before salting it. Perhaps the salt from the broth and sauce will be sufficient.
• Do not use a glass dish for baking, as this is dangerous. Better take a ceramic or metal.
• When baking, keep track of the time – when placed in the oven, the Pie is almost ready. You only need to let the ingredients soak each other; this will take no more than 10 minutes. It will be a shame if you burn all your work.
• If you are replacing greens with dry herbs, keep in mind that they require three times less – about 1 teaspoon.
• As you can see in different photos, the recipe has many variations – some cooks use chicken broth or ground lamb, or add celery and herbs. You can add other vegetables – corn, zucchini. European Shepard’s Pie is usually made using minced lamb, while Americans prefer beef. Both of these meats are lean and are used for this very reason.

References

5 Easy fall favorites [Image]. (2019). Web.

Oster 2-speed immersion hand blender with food chopper attachment – metallic gray [Image]. (n.d.). Web.

OXO ground meat chopper [Image]. (n.d.). Web.

Shepherd’s Pie [Image]. (2019). Web.

Shepherd’s Pie [Image]. (2019). Web.