How To Make A Shepards Pie

How To Make Shepherds Pie

• Sauté some chopped onions in olive oil.
• Add ground beef or ground lamb.

• Add dried parsley, dried thyme, dried rosemary, salt, and pepper.
• Stir and cook the meat mixture until the meat is browned.
• Add minced garlic and Worcestershire sauce.

• Cook the garlic for a minute.
• Add flour and tomato paste.

• Add beef broth, frozen mixed peas and carrots, and frozen corn kernels.
• Simmer the meat gravy until it is thick.

• Boil some peeled and chopped potatoes until they are soft.
• Drain the potatoes

• Add butter, half & half, parmesan cheese, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
• Mash the potatoes until smooth.

• Pour the meat mixture into a casserole dish.
• Top it with the cheesy mashed potatoes.

• Bake until the meat is bubbling and the potatoes are golden.

Read The Labels On Your Worcestershire Sauce

Diving into the meat filling, youll see that Worcestershire is a key ingredient. This is a vinegar based sauce made from fermented onions and garlic, along with molasses, tamarind, anchovies, spices and more. Yep, you can say this sauce has an intense depth of flavor, making it perfect to add to meats.

But if youre gluten-free, youll need to be mindful of the brands you buy. Worcestershire often includes a wheat-based soy sauce to get that deep dark brown color. So, I recommend purchasing one of the below brands that are gluten-free .

• New Primal Cooking Sauce

What Is Shepards Pie

If youre new to Shepherds Pie , let me be the first to welcome you to your new favourite comfort food. Essentially, its lamb and veggies smothered in a gravy and who doesnt love an excuse for tons and tons of gravy?

All those times you were limited to just a small drizzle on a few slices of roast lamb because there wasnt enough to go around Bah! This is how you get your gravy fix!!

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How To Freeze Shepherd’s Pie

Cool and cover the baked shepherd’s pie loosely with plastic wrap. Place it in the freezer for two to three hours, or until its fairly firm. Remove the frozen pie and cover it firmly with plastic wrap. Place a large piece of aluminum foil on the counter. Set the baking dish on top. Bring the sides of the foil up and over the pie. Crimp or fold the edges all around to firmly seal the pie in the foil.

When ready to serve the shepherd’s pie, take the casserole from the freezer and remove the foil and the plastic wrap. Use the foil you just removed to loosely cover the pie. Make sure that your casserole dish can go straight from freezer to oven if not, set the casserole in the oven while the oven preheats so that the dish warms slowly.

Bake the casserole for an hour, or until the pie is hot all the way through. Remove the foil for the last 15 minutes to allow the top to brown. To shorten the baking time to 40 to 45 minutes, defrost it in the refrigerator one day before you plan to bake it.

Lastly Assemble And Bake The Pie:

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How To Make Deviled Eggs:

• Cut the hard boiled eggs in half, lengthwise.
• Pop out the yolks and put them in a mixing bowl.
• Mash the yolks with the back of a fork until no large clumps remain.

• Add the mayo, mustard, pickle juice, and pepper to the bowl. Mix it together.
• Transfer the yolk mixture to a plastic food storage bag.
• Squeeze and roll the bag around in your fingers until the yolk mixture is completely smooth.

• Cut one corner off of the bag to create a piping bag.

• Pipe the yolk mixture into the holes of the egg whites.
• Serve cold.

More About This Recipe

• Whether you call it shepherds pie or cottage pie, it will take just one taste to call this recipe delicious. While it seems like a super-trendy new dish, shepherd’s pie has long been a go-to comfort food in the British Isles. Sub out the ground beef for ground chicken or turkey. Looking for more creative recipes for mashed potatoes? Cooking with potatoes is not only fun and easy, but the blank canvas for the tender spuds allows you maximum creativity and inspiration. Looking for more creative recipes for mashed potatoes? Check out all of our delicious side dishes, dinners and more.

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How To Freeze Healthy Shepherds Pie

Once the shepherds pie is baked, cool completely and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Place it in the freezer until fairly firm, about two hours. Then, cover tightly with plastic wrap, followed by aluminum foil. Mark the date on the outside and store in the freezer for up to two months.

When ready to serve, remove the foil and plastic wrap. Use the foil you just removed to loosely cover the pie. Make sure that your casserole dish can go straight from freezer to oven if not, set the casserole in the oven while the oven preheats so that the dish warms slowly.

Bake the casserole for an hour, or until the pie is hot all the way through. Remove the foil for the last 15 minutes to allow the top to brown.

How To Store Shepherds Pie

This easy shepherds pie recipe makes such good left overs. I love how all the flavors in the beef filling marinate and taste amazing the next day. When storing it in the fridge. Make sure to completely cover the the dish with plastic wrap. To try and form a air tight seal. The leftovers will keep for up to three days. If you plan on keeping it longer that that. Freeze the portions immediately that you are not going to use with in 3 days.

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Tips About The Potatoes:

Instant potatoes will technically work. I dont ever use instant potatoes to make actual potatoes. I use them as soup thickeners and crusts in casseroles but that is because my mother always made homemade mashed potatoes so instant potatoes taste off to me. HOWEVER, if you like em, go for it and Ill stand on the sidelines and cheer you all the way. Your kitchen = your rules, and dont let anyone else tell you different! Another option for this, if you dont want to do mashed potatoes, is to get a box of stovetop stuffing mix. Mix that up according to the package directions and just use it as a topping. Id leave out the cheese but you can certainly include that if you like.

What Is Shepherds Pie

Originating from the early 1800s, shepherds pie is a traditional Irish recipe. Its a hearty dish where women had to get creative with leftovers. Similar to how we create leftover casseroles today!

The basic structure is having a savory minced lamb filling topped with a layer of mashed potatoes. The filling is usually simmered with onions, carrots, celery, and peas.

Sounds like a cottage pie right? Except, cottage pie uses beef and shepherds pie uses lamb or mutton. So when you eat a Shepherds pie in the US that swaps ground beef for lamb, thats truly a cottage pie, not a Shepherds pie. Oh, semantics.

If you dont eat a lot of lamb, I say give this traditional version a try. I think youll love it! But no matter which type of meat you choose, this is true comfort food that will warm you from the inside out during the winter months.

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The Wholesome Dish Is One Of The Most Trusted Recipe Websites

As a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, Ive been trained in food science and recipe development. I personally test all of the recipes on this site. My family members are my taste testers. I dont put anything on this site that my family doesnt love. I have over 8 years of experience creating recipes. Its what I love doing! People keep coming back to the same recipes over and over again because their families love the food. Check out all the amazing reviews on the recipes on this site.

Types Of Recipes On This Site

While I am proud to be a dietitian, I do NOT only eat health food. So, thats not what this site is about. I strive to make the BEST recipes, the recipes you keep coming back to over and over because your whole family loves them. If I can convince one family to cook one of my easy recipes at home instead of going through the fast-food drive through, then I consider that a win!

The recipes on this site tend to fall into one of two categories:

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Tips For The Best Shepherds Pie

• Use lean ground beef or lamb so that everything holds together and does not fall apart from the excess grease.
• Use russet potatoes for the lightest and fluffiest potato topping.
• Let the shepherds pie rest for 10 minutes before serving. This will allow the juices to absorb back into the meat and help everything stay together.
• Broil the last couple of minutes to brown the potato topping.

How This Pie Is Different From Traditional Shepherds Pie

The shepherds pie of my upbringing features a hefty portion of meat, with vegetables playing a supporting role, and a thick topping of buttery mashed potatoes. My updated version bumps up the ratio of vegetables to meat and calls for extra-lean ground beef, which is the leanest option in the butcher case.

For the mashed potatoes, the recipe swaps in olive oil for butter, which means more heart-healthy fats in every bite. The sum total of these swaps is a lighter dish with no shortcuts on flavor.

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Why Youll Love This Recipe

• Its a hearty filling family weeknight meal.

• You can make it ahead and even freeze it.

• Its a great way to use up leftover mashed potato.

• It tastes so good that even meat eaters will love it!

• Its 100% vegetarian.

Hearty, healthy family comfort food, lentils and veggies, in the most delicious sauce, topped with smooth creamy mashed potato does it get any better than this?

More Vegetarian Casseroles To Try

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Making Ahead Storing And Freezing Cottage Pie:

To make ahead: Cottage pie can be made up to 3 days in advance. For best results, store the mashed potatoes and filling separately in the fridge until ready to assemble the cottage pie. Before topping the pie with the mashed potatoes you may want to add a little more milk to them to soften them.

To Store: Store leftover cottage pie covered in the refrigerator for 3-5 days. Adjust storage times based on how fresh your ingredients were to begin with and take care to remember that leftover meat should not be stored for more than 5 days after its originally cooked.

To Freeze: To freeze cottage pie, bake in a freezer safe casserole dish and allow it to cool completely. Double wrap it in plastic wrap and tinfoil and store it in the freezer for up to 2 months. To reheat, place the frozen pie in the oven at 350ºF for about 1 hour and 30 minutes, or until warmed through.

Tips To Save You Time

This recipe takes a little more time than the average weeknight meal, but its so worth it. Here are a few tips to save you some time and energy.

• Use a mixture of butter and flour to thicken the sauce: Instead of a roux , I mix the flour and butter in a bowl and whisk it into the sauce to save on cooking time. This is known as beurre manié in French cuisine. Also, I always think its easier to clean a small bowl than a pot!
• Choose large potatoes: Im not a fan of peeling potatoes, but the larger they are, the fewer there are to peel! And the less time I need to spend doing it. If you dont mind the skins, you could skip the peeling altogether, but thats an aesthetic choice. It doesnt affect the overall taste, but perhaps the potatoes wont be quite so melt-in-your-mouth creamy.
• Buy grated cheese: Usually, I like to grate my own cheese because packaged cheese often has added cellulose to keep the shreds from clumping. That said, there are brands that have only a few additives, and I find skipping this one step just moves things along faster.

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Prepare The Mashed Potatoes

Bring a large pan of salted water to a boil and add in your chopped potatoes, and simmer for approximately 15 minutes.

When the potatoes are cooked enough, they will be tender, and youll be able to pierce them easily with a fork or knife.

Drain the potatoes and return them to the pan, then add milk and butter.

Using either a potato ricer or potato masher, mash the potatoes until they are a smooth creamy consistency, then set aside.

Yes You Can Make It Ahead

Once you have topped the filling with the potatoes and sprinkled the last bit of cheese over it, let it cool completely, then cover it with plastic wrap. You can keep it assembled, but unbaked, in your refrigerator for up to three days.

To bake the pie, remove the plastic wrap and take it straight from the fridge to the oven. Add an extra 15 minutes to the baking time. Check the pie after 30 minutes.

Cover it loosely with foil if the top browns too quickly.

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