I know for many people Shepherd’s Pie is an ultimate comfort food. But traditionally I haven’t really been into Shepherd’s Pie that much, but then my Daddio made this amazing Shepherd’s Pie with Slow Roasted Lamb and I became sold!
It was Easter Sunday and my Dad was roasting up TWO shoulders of lamb for lunch. There was only 3 of us for dinner! I was incredibly excited about the idea of getting to eat ALL of the lamb. Alas, I was informed that one of the shoulders was in fact reserved for Shepherd’s Pie. Gutted. But my Dad argued that he didn’t want any of that weird grey mince stuff from Tesco, he wanted delicious off-the-bone slow-cooked lamb in his pie. And I think he is on to something.
The best way to do this is to make like my Daddio and roast up two shoulders on a Sunday and reserve the lamb from one shoulder for this dish. It makes sense. Plus, it makes loads of food! This dish is ideal for separating out into portions and freezing down for those dinner’s when you can’t be bothered to cook. It’s healthy, delicious freezer food! This is the ultimate Shepherds Pie.
Shepherd’s Pie with Slow-Roasted Lamb
Ingredients
for Roast Lamb
- 1 shoulder of lamb
- 2tbsp garlic puree
- 1-2tsp chilli flakes
- 4 tbsp olive oil
Shepherds Pie
- 2 large onions, diced
- 4 carrots, diced
- 4 mushrooms, diced
- 1tbsp olive oil
- 1pint lamb stock
- 1tbsp mixed herbs – whatever your favourite (thyme, rosemary, majoram etc)
- 4-5 large floury potatoes
- 2tbsp cream
- 1tbsp milk
- 1/2 tbsp butter
- salt and pepper
Method
- first you need to roast up your shoulder of lamb – bring you lamb up to room temperature before cooking. then smother the whole joint with garlic puree and chilli flakes followed by a coating of olive oil. roast in a preheated oven at 190C (fan) for 30 minutes before reducing to 130C for a further 2-4 hours. keep checking with a fork and when the meat starts falling apart you know it’s done.
- carve up the meat and chop into a roughly 2cm cubes – ish. set aside.
- to prepare the filling for the pie – fry up the diced onion in a little olive oil until they begin to turn golden. then add the carrots and mushrooms and fry for a further 3 minutes.
- pour in the lamb stock and add the herbs and cook until the vegetables are tender.
- sieve the vegetables out of the stock and reserve it for gravy.
- meanwhile boil the potatoes in plenty of salted water until soft, this should be about 12 minutes or so. drain the potatoes.
- use a potato ricer to mash the potatoes – it makes them extra smooth. then add the milk, cream and butter to the potatoes and mix well to ensure the mash is super-smooth.
- in a large shallow baking dish add the meat and vegetables, mix with a spoon and then press firmly into the bottom of the dish.
- spread the mash over the meat mixture and stick in a preheated oven at 190C (fan) until the mash turns a lovely golden brown on top this should take about 30 minutes.
Enjoy!
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