Shepherd's Pie

Cottage pie or shepherd's pie is a meat pie with a crust of mashed potato.

The term cottage pie is known to have been in use in 1791, when the potato was being introduced as an edible crop affordable for the poor (cf. "cottage" meaning a modest dwelling for rural workers).

In early cookery books, the dish was a means of using leftover roasted meat of any kind, and the pie dish was lined with mashed potato as well as having a mashed potato crust on top.

The term "shepherd's pie" did not appear until 1877, and since then it has been used synonymously with "cottage pie", regardless of whether the principal ingredient was beef or mutton. More recently, the term "shepherd's pie" has been used when the meat is lamb the theory being that shepherds are concerned with sheep and not cattle.

This is by far one of my favorite winter dishes and over the years I have come to modify and update the traditional recipe a bit, but remain true to the original. Here is a copy of my most recent recipe and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Ingredients:

Meat Filling

• 1 lb of minced Lamb
• 1 pkg of white or crimini mushrooms
• 1 stalk of celery
• 1 small onion
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
• 2 TBSP Flour
• 2 TBSP Butter
• 1 clove of garlic finely minced
• 1 TBSP fresh rosemary
• hot pepper flakes
• canola oil for sauteing

Vegetable Layer

• 1 large carrot minced and steamed in microwave until tender
• 1 can of peached and cream kernel corn
• 1 cup frozen peas

Mashed Potato Crust

• 1.5 kg Potatoes peeled.  Russet potatoes are best, but any white potato will do
• 2 egg yolks
• canola oil for sauteing
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp fresh thyme
• 1/4 cup of cream
• 4 TBSP of butter cubed
• 1/4 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
• Paprika
• Pepper

Meat Filling

Heat oil in a 12" saute pan on medium to medium high heat.  

Wash, dry and thinly slice mushrooms and add to oil, season with salt & pepper and cook until lightly browned,about 8-10 minutes (don't worry if they sweat,and set aside.)

Mince celery and onion and add to pan, add more oil if needed, season with salt and pepper and cook until 

soft, 8-10 minutes and add to mushrooms.

Crumble minced lamb into pan add garlic and rosemary and hot pepper flakes and cook until browned 6-8 minutes, add to above mixture.

Make a roux of 2 TBSP of flour and 2 TBSP of butter, add to pan and cook for about three minutes, it should be

a light golden brown, don't worry if it gets dark, it will give you a darker color gravy. Slowly add chicken stock while stirring with a whisk to prevent lumps, add wine and simmer for 3 to 5 minutes, while continually 

stirring.  Add meat and vegetable mixture stir and simmer on low for 15-20 minutes.  If your gravy becomes too thick add more chicken stock.

Mashed Potato Crust

Peel and rinse potatoes.  place in pot of cold water and cook on high heat until tender.  Drain water well and immediately return to pot. Mash potatoes with a potato masher or potato ricer ( I like to use a ricer it removes all chances of lumps. Add cream, butter, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, pepper and parmesan cheese.DO NOT ADD SALT IF USING PARMESAN CHEESE. Mix gently until mixed.  Add the first egg yolk and mix, if mixture is to wet do not add second egg yolk.

Vegetable Layer

Dice carrot and steam in microwave until tender, about 3-5 minutes.  Mix all vegetable together and lightly season with salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 425F and adjust the rack to the lowest level.

Place Meat filling in casserole dish, and cover with the vegetable layer. I like to pipe the mashed potato layer on top using a pastry bag and a very large star tip.  To do this cover the vegetable mixture with rosettes, continue to cover the rosettes with more rosettes until all the potatoes have been used. If you do not have a pastry bag you can scoop the potatoes on top, just make sure you make peaks or grooves with a fork. Sprinkle with paprika.  To get a nice golden crust like above, I lightly spray cooking oil over the potatoes.  

Place casserole dish on a baking tray and cook in oven for 20-25 minutes, until potatoes are golden brown.  If you are making this ahead and cooking later, bake at 350F for 30 minutes or until gravy starts to bubble.  To brown the potatoes, turn oven to broil and broil until golden.

Enjoy     

  

Country Style Beef Stew

A beef stew is a combination of food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the reduced gravy. Ingredients in a stew can include any combination of vegetables (such as carrots, potatoes, turnip, parsnips, onions, celery and tomatoes, etc.), meat, especially tougher meats suitable for slow-cooking, such as shoulder and butt cuts of beef.  While water can be used as the stew-cooking liquid, wine, stock, and beer are also common. Seasoning and flavourings may also be added. Stews are typically cooked at a relatively low temperature (simmered, not boiled), allowing flavors to mingle this is the single most important aspect of making a stew - long and slow.

This makes it popular in low-cost cooking. Tougher cuts having a certain amount of marbling and gelatinous connective tissue give moist, juicy stews, while lean meat may easily become dry. It is always best to cut your own stew meat.

Stews are similar to soups, generally, stews have less liquid than soups, are much thicker and require longer cooking over low heat. While soups are almost always served in a bowl, stews may be thick enough to be served on a plate with the gravy as a sauce over the solid ingredients.

Stews have been made since ancient times. Herodotus has been quoted as far back as the 8th century BC discussing about how to cook stew. Ancient Romans recipes from the cookbook Apicius (believed to date back to the 4th century) have recipes for lamb and fish stews. My recipe may not be as old but I assure you the warm feeling you will have in your tummy will be the same as the ancients had experienced. 

This is perfect if you have a slow cooker! If you want to take a few minutes to prep the meat and vegetables ahead the night before and store in the fridge you will have the greatest reward the next day for dinner. Don't buy pre cut stew meat, it's too lean and will dry out. Always cut your own meat when making stew. In this case the fattier, the better.  Using a Turnip (rutabaga) is my secret ingredient.

Ingredients

• 2-3 lbs of Beef, chuck or rump roast, cut into 1" cubes
• 2 cups of Yukon gold potatoes -cut into 1" cubes
• 2 cups of sliced carrots
• 2 stalks of celery sliced
• 1 cup of frozen peas
• 1 cup of turnip cut into 1" cubes **my secret ingredient***
• 1/2 cup of sliced parsnips
• 1  medium white onion thinly sliced
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 clove of garlic crushed (optional)
• 1 tsp of garlic powder
• 1 tsp of onion powder
• 1 tsp of black pepper
• 1 tsp of hot pepper flakes (optional)
• 1 tsp of salt
• 1 TBSP of summer savory or greek oregano
• vegetable oil for sauteing 
• 4 cups of beef stock (you can substitute water, but you will need to use beef bullion cubes see package for instructions)
• 1 cup of red wine - Cabernet Sauvignon, or Shiraz are my favorites since they are full bodied
• 2 TBSP of flour
• 2 TSBP of butter

Directions:

Cube meat into 1" pieces, remove any excess fat, place in a bowl and mix with garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper and salt.  Seasoning your meat at this stage will reward you with flavourful nuggets of meat.  Let rest while peeling, slicing and cubing your vegetables.  You may wish to soak your potatoes in cold water to keep from turning brown

Heat a 5 Quart stock pot or dutch oven with 1 TBSP of vegetable oil on medium high heat, ( if using a crock pot to make your stew, you can use a frying pan to cook your meat) 

Cook you meat in small batches, this may take a couple of minutes, but its what will make your stew everyones favorite. Do not over crowd the pan, you want to sear the meat on all sides, not steam it. Set the seared meat aside on a place with a slight lip, you want to save any juice that seeps out.  You will repeat this process until all the meat is cooked.  

* Important note.  You want a nice brown fawn to develop on the bottom of your pan, but you don't want it to burn. After the second batch, I deglaze my pan with a bit of stock and pour it over the reserved cooked meat, and continue the process. 

After final batch of meat is cooked, reduce heat to medium and add onion, carrots, turnip, parsnip and celery, cook for 2-3 minutes scrapping up any fawn on the bottom of the pan. Add flour mixing with the vegetables for 2-3 minutes add butter and stir until melted.  Deglaze your pan with red wine and 1 cup of beef stock. If you don't like red wine in your stew just use and additional cup of beef stock.  Turn heat up to high and bring to a boil, for two minutes, add remaining stock, beef, bay leaves, hot pepper flakes, garlic and summer savory and reduce heat to low and cover

*Note - You have two options to finish your stew and I've used both.  You can place your pot in a preheated 300F or keep it on the stove on low heat and cook for 1 1/2 hours.   I use the oven on days that I make biscuits (recipe can be found on blog with chicken pot pie)

After 1 1/2 hours add potatoes and cook for an additional 45 minutes.  Remove from oven and return to stove to medium heat. Add frozen peas and cook for 3 minutes.  Adjust salt and pepper to taste, remove Bay leaves  and serve.

This next step is up to your preference of how thick your like your gravy.  I generally like my gravy on the thicker side.  If it is too thin when I remove it from the oven I will turn the heat up to medium to bring it to a gentle boil.  Mix 1 TBSP of flour to 1/2 cup of cold water in a jar with a tight lid and shake to make sure there are no lumps.  to prevent lumps make sure you add the flour to the water, and not water to the flour.  Also make sure your stew is gently boiling when you add the flour water slurry.  Slowly add while stirring for two to three minutes to thicken.   

Adjust salt and pepper to taste 

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